From the Depths
by eyeofthetiger95
Summary: For years, the squids and Team Crafted have fought a bitter war. Now they must form an alliance to defeat an enemy that threatens both of their worlds. Some OC, some canon, lots of YouTubers and their separate series. Set in Minecraft 1.8.1.
1. A Losing Battle

"We're almost to the pyramid, Lady Sophie."

"Are the fliers ready for the assault?"

"Yes Lady Sophie."

"Good. Make sure they stay as far above the surface as possible. We've already taken heavy losses."

"Yes Lady Sophie."

"Is that all Nix?"

"Yes Lady Sophie."

"You really don't need to call me Lady every time."

"Yes La- Sophie. I'm sorry Sophie."

"Order the fliers to begin. Take the men and wolves into the pyramid and leave nothing alive."

Nix bowed. His image in the portal shimmered and disappeared. But I knew something was wrong.

It wasn't the Guardians that were the problem. We had fought them off dozens, maybe hundreds, of times in our quest to end their domination of the sea. Nor was it the complete lack of light around him that not even my squid night vision could adjust to.

I couldn't put a name to what I felt. It was like we were being watched by something ancient and terrible, a cold deadly presence looming over me. I was in an entirely different dimension than Nix! How could it feel so close to me?

I ran my hand through my light blue hair and stood up just as someone knocked on my door.

"Come in," I called.

My maid Anna came in. Her usual plain blue dress was replaced by shimmering ceremonial armor and a flowing cloak. "My lady, are you ready to meet with the player delegation?"

"Notch damn it." I had completely forgotten. "Make my excuses to Father, I'll be there in just a moment."

Anna looked at me with a mix of amusement and resignation. "I seem to be doing that a lot lately," she said. "You're going to be doing all the talking. Keep that in mind." With that, she left me to prepare.

I quickly stripped off my simple gown and replaced it with armor and a cloak like Anna's, only mine was far less functional and much more formal. The dark blue metal shone with the purple light of the Derpiness X enchantment and the cloak was embroidered with the squid army insignia, a golden ink sac and two crossed squid swords. I strapped my sword to my waist and ran as quickly and quietly as I could to the main hall of the castle. In the doorway, I stopped to smooth my hair and compose myself. We were about to make an alliance with our mortal enemies in order to confront a much greater evil. Despite my worry for Nix and the forces I had sent with him, this was even worse. The last time I had seen these people, they had slaughtered thousands of us in our sleep, including my mother. Father had retaliated, and utter devastation had followed. Years of aggression and vengeance had to be wiped away for this to succeed. Was it possible? I breathed deeply and stepped regally into the room.

"The Lady Sophie, daughter of King Aegis, Emperor of the Sea, first of his name."

I nodded at the herald who had announced my presence and walked over to stand on Father's right. Anna smiled approvingly to me from the far corner of the room.

Ten shadowy figures stood in a dry area that took up half the hall. Prismarine lanterns threw a soft light over part of the space, but all of them seemed to shy away from it. The light was too bright for my night vision to function properly, but they all looked different and frightening.

"Now that we're all here," one of them said, "perhaps we should introduce ourselves so they don't question our intentions."

"Why would we do that?" I asked.

The man who had spoken stepped forward into the light. He was of medium height and broad-shouldered, with curly brown hair, a heavy brow, and a strong jaw. His clothing was strange- a black and grey tunic with grey pants, kneepads for some odd reason, and dark red shoes. Around his neck hung a golden amulet set with a gleaming purple gem. Two black eye patches covered his eyes and I wondered if he was blind.

"I'm Sky," he said. "And I killed your mother three years ago."


	2. Trust

Shock was the only thing that prevented me from ripping my sword from its sheath and running him through. Sky's arrogant smile made me clench my teeth until they hurt. But killing him would ruin any chances of an alliance, even though he was really asking for it. Caution and fury battled inside me and I compromised by gripping my sword until my knuckles turned white.

"But that's all said and done now, isn't it?" Sky asked mockingly. "You need our help."

"You need ours too," Father hissed. Despite his admirable self-control, he was trembling with rage. "Where's that fish creature who first brought the Guardians to your attention?"

"I," said an acrid voice, "am NOT a fish."

The next player who stepped forward was completely different from Sky. He looked, well, he looked like a fish. His glistening skin was light blue that faded into yellow on the facial fins near his jowls and mouth slit, and white on his lower jaw and the front of his neck. A lighter blue fin travelled from his forehead to the back of his neck. His eyes bored into first my father's and then mine. They were pure black and reflected no light. It was impossible to read his expression. He was dressed incongruously in a neat grey three piece suit with a jaunty red tie and a white handkerchief protruding from the breast pocket.

"I'm Husky," he said coolly. "And, for the record, I'm an amphibian. That's how I can live on dry land and in the ocean."

"They've been troubling you too?" I asked.

Husky strode towards me, leaving the air bubble where the others stood and submerging himself completely. Two sets of gills on the sides of his neck opened and began to pulse. The guards flanking me drew their swords menacingly, but Husky didn't seem bothered in the least. He continued forward until the sword points were barely touching his chest.

"They drove me from my rightful kingdom," he snarled at me. "You may rule the oceans in this freakish place, but I am the sole lord and master of all who live in my world. Until these… Guardians came. They decimated the sea. Destroyed my palace. Forced me onto this harsh land without any hope of return. I may not be a fish, but even an amphibian cannot live in the air indefinitely. Now I suggest," he snapped, turning to glare at Sky, "that we leave off opening old wounds and put aside our differences. Neither of us can live while they remain."

I swallowed the lump in my throat. As vicious and arrogant as Husky seemed, his story was exactly the same as Father's, mine, and the millions of squids who had been forced to retreat from the human dimension back into the squid dimension. The Guardians had carelessly slaughtered a path through every creature in their way, not bothering to discriminate between mobs and players.

"My condolences for your loss," I forced out eventually.

"I did not ask for your pity, creature," he said coldly. "You are as doomed as any of us."

He turned his back on me and walked back to the group to stand next to Sky, who seemed a little cowed by Husky's reprimand. Good, I thought.

"But if we are to make this alliance," said a new voice, "how do we know that you will keep your word?"

"Because we have no choice!" I snapped at the speaker. "My forces are dying as we speak. I assure you, we have no desire for further war."

The creature laughed and stepped forward. My heart almost stopped.

He/ She/ It was a alien creature unlike anything I had ever seen. Sky was weird and Husky was frightening but both were at least slightly recognizable. This being was shorter and slimmer than both of them, with round red eyes and a wide mouth that radiated pale blue light. Its body was plated with a thick black exoskeleton with blue seams that glowed like the mouth. I assumed the seams were either skin or veins, but it stood too far away for me to see. On its head was a red crest, red tufts or horns that might have been ears, and blue antennae. When it spoke, I could see long black fangs and a thin flickering blue tongue.

"We need… collateral," it said. Its voice was punctuated by odd clicks and hisses. "Something that will force you to cooperate."

"Is the threat of mutual destruction not enough for you?" I demanded.

"Of course it is not." It laughed again. "Your past tactics have shown us that you do not care for how many men and squids you lose as long as one of us dies."

I was quiet. I knew the creature was right. We had killed several of the players in the past, and then sacrificed thousands of soldiers to erase every remnant of their presence from the world so that they could never respawn again. I could hear Sky grinding his teeth and hoped the memories of his losses hurt him just as much as mine did.

"What do you want?" I asked.


	3. Or Lack Thereof

"A hostage would work," said another player.

This one, at least, was recognizably human. He was taller than Husky and the alien, but shorter than Sky and not as strongly built. His clothing was smart but casual- a black sport coat over a blue t-shirt and slacks. His face was lean and handsome under his brown beard and mustache, but his eyes were hidden under black sunglasses that were almost opaque.

"Someone that you would miss sorely, should you break your promise," he said, and smiled.

"Ssundee, we can't spare anyone to look after a hostage," Sky said impatiently.

"Bonkers can look after one," said Ssundee. The alien grinned and the blue glow in its mouth brightened considerably. "She doesn't like fighting that much."

"I don't want any squids in the city," Sky added. "And I doubt Husky is up to sharing his new residence either."

"Can't squids live on land for a little while?" Ssundee asked me.

"A year, tops, in ideal conditions," I said.

"See, that's more than enough," said Bonkers.

"We don't have ideal conditions for squids!" Sky was getting agitated. "I built Butter City with literally the least ideal squid conditions in mind."

There was a wet sputtering noise from the group and a new player stepped forward. His face and body were completely covered with some sort of protective suit or armor. More unpleasant grinding and spluttering noises emanated from inside the helmet and I sensed that the being in the suit was hiding itself for a reason.

"Take off the helmet Jason," Sky grumbled. "No one understands you through that thing."

"Don't you think he'll scare them too much?" Husky asked warily.

"Whatever," said Sky.

The being shrugged and lifted its visor. I choked back a scream of horror.

Its face was a slimy, misshapen mass of muddy green flesh. At least thirty lidless orange eyes stared straight at me. It had no nose or ears, just a wide slash of a mouth that stretched from one side of its head to the other. When it spoke, the words were garbled but intelligible.

"I said that unlike my friends here, I would be honored to welcome an ally into my home," Jason hissed. He smiled at me in what was clearly meant to be a reassuring manner, but all I could see was the dozens of rows of needle-like yellow teeth.

"Of- of course," I stammered, trying to regain my composure. Sky looked amused at my discomfort. "Your generosity is much appreciated, Jason."

"However, I am not sure that my palace could house a water creature comfortably… Perhaps we could create an entirely new residence for them in Butter City."

"Too much resource expenditure," Sky snapped.

"Not for us," said another voice.

Two players stepped forward. One looked thankfully normal, but the second was yet another monster.

"We could do it," said the human player. He was of medium height with a medium build, but there was a certain tension in his stance and a flicker in his bright amber eyes that suggested an expert fighter lay beneath his calm façade. His clothing was very casual- a red and black checked jacket with the hood pulled down, a white t shirt, grey jeans and sneakers. He smiled confidently, showing off perfect teeth in a slightly tanned face. "An underground area in a protected ocean segment would work perfectly. Squids are most comfortable in total darkness and the water would keep them happy and healthy."

"How do you know that Mitch?" Sky asked. He eyed the other man suspiciously.

"Because it's my job to know my enemies," said Mitch. His smile took on an ominous quality. "I fight for my life every damn day Sky. When you don't spend your sad existence sitting on a gold throne having your every need catered to by your endless crowd of lackeys, you learn some things."

The insult was obvious enough for even Sky to understand it. He held out his hand and a beautiful golden sword appeared in his grip, shimmering with enchanted power.

"Watch your tone," he barked. "Shooting your enemies in the back in an arena is easy. You know nothing about real war."

Mitch stepped boldly forward. The air shimmered around his body and silvery armor suddenly clamped down around his head, chest, legs, and feet. A sword made of the same material leaped to his hand as well. Just as he came close enough for Sky to actually take a swing at him, the monster at his side intervened.

It, or he, sprang forward with a speed and grace I hadn't thought him capable of. As he charged the two combatants, a double-bladed axe appeared in his hand. He used the underside of the axe head to entangle the two blades, then twisted them out of their owners grips with a flick of his wrist.

"Enough!" he roared. "Have you forgotten why we're here? How can you thirst for more blood at a time like this? You can fight like a pair of mad wolves later."

Sky and Mitch glared at each other. I sensed there was some ancient conflict between them that ran deeper than some petty insults, but thought it wiser to say nothing. Their swords and armor disappeared and they retreated back to their places. The monster sighed in either relief or annoyance.

"I apologize for them, Lady Sophie," he rumbled. "They have no shame."

"Of course they are forgiven," I said. "Who are you?"

"Jerome, my lady," he said, and gave me a slight bow. He was the first to have done so. "I grew up with Mitch. We joined their cause several years ago, but left them for… other reasons. We had not seen each other in months until today. Old wounds, you understand."

I nodded. The players with them seemed more tense and agitated now. Husky was shuffling around restlessly, Bonkers was clicking her claws together, Jason had long since pulled his visor back down and now stood as far away from the others as he could get. Sky and Mitch simply looked murderous and Jerome put his paw on Mitch's shoulder, either to soothe him or hold him back. Ssundee removed his sunglasses and cleaned them on the edge of his shirt. He looked up at me and my heart leaped into my mouth at the sight of his wide blue eyes pointing in two opposite directions.

"Let's return to the matter at hand," said a smooth deep voice. I looked at the next player who stepped forward. It was another human, thank Notch. I didn't know how many other monsters I could deal with facing today.

He was short and very thin and pale. There were dark shadows under one of his maroon eyes but the other was concealed by his long hair. His clothing was simpler than the others, in a white v-neck shirt and light grey pants. A black and bright green headset and a pair of dark purple cuff bracelets seemed to be his only aesthetic extravagances.

"Lady Sophie, are you amenable to providing us one of your citizens as a sign of your goodwill?" he asked. "As a sign of our goodwill, we in turn will do everything in our power to care and provide for them. We will even educate them in the ways of humans and they will do the same for us as a squid. Perhaps when we reunite after the Guardians have been vanquished, we will meet as friends and not foes."

He was very persuasive, I had to admit. I turned to look at Father, who had been uncharacteristically silent the whole time.

"I will have to confer with my advisors," I told them. "We will consider your request."


	4. Adjusting

The moment we were out of earshot of the players, Father muttered, "Monsters!"

"Some of them seemed reasonable enough," I said.

I turned to one of Father's advisors, whose name was Tyronica. "What do you think of them?"

"There is no doubt they are awful creatures," she said. "But they are awful creatures who we have no chance of survival without. I say yes. Let us send a citizen to live with them."

"Archon?" I asked, looking at the small frail man on Father's left. He was the oldest squid in the kingdom.

He shrugged. "Once I would have refused to have anything to do with humans. Times have changed terribly if they must be our allies. Despite everything, I say yes as well. There were those among them who seemed ready to let go of their enmity. We would be wise to do the same."

Father was livid.

"Did you not hear Sky boasting about murdering Dara? How could any of you even consider this?"

"How could I not?" I snapped. "I love and miss Mother as much as you do, Father. Every fiber of my being detests the thought of sending a squid to live in their city. But the reason I will say yes to their proposal is because I cannot stand to lose anyone else like her. Does it matter anymore, who killed her? We could slaughter all of the humans in this castle, in this world or any other, right now and Mother would not come back. I will say yes because this place has seen too much death and loss and broken families. Anything to end this war."

I hadn't meant to say so much, but Father's shoulders slumped a little. Tyronica and Archon looked shocked at my speech.

"You're right, Sophie," he said sadly. "As usual." He gave me a tiny ghost of a smile. "I have dwelt on my hatred for too long."

Exhaustion and responsibility weighed heavily on my shoulders.

"Thank you. I will tell them we have approved their request."

When I approached the players' air bubble, a few were wandering around and the rest were conferring in a group. I took a deep breath, preparing myself for the shock of dry air, and then stepped through the water/ air boundary.

It had been a long time since I had last set foot on land, or breathed openly, and it unfortunately showed. The dry stinging in my throat was unbearable at first and I coughed furiously, trying to clear my land lungs. The blinding light from the prismarine lanterns wasn't helping either.

Husky looked at me curiously, then came over and put his webbed hand on my shoulder to help steady me. The guards looked at me uncertainly, but I shook my head at them and they relaxed.

"Can you wear human armor, Lady Sophie?" he asked.

"I think so," I rasped.

A helmet made of some translucent blue crystal substance appeared in his hand and he gave it to me. "Put that on. I'm not sure it'll help but it won't hurt."

I pressed it on over my head. Suddenly the burn in my throat disappeared, as if it had never been there. The air was soothingly cool instead of blistering and I stopped coughing and straightened up.

"Thank you," I said. "What is this?"

"It's a diamond helmet with an enchantment called Respiration," he said. "It helps humans breathe under water, so I thought it might help you breathe on land."

I smiled gratefully. Two players who hadn't spoken before wandered over to me. There was a green creature like an enormous ocelot, but with a flowing mane of fur. Another was like a hairy distorted human, with blue skin and fur. He wore a purple tie, but no other clothes.

"This is Weedlion and Bluemonkey," Husky explained. "Their work is mostly behind the scenes but they're close with Bonks and they help her out a lot."

I nodded to them and they both bowed deeply.

"Sky is very against any kind of alliance," Weedlion explained. He seemed irritated and kept extending and retracting his lime green claws. "He believes that the Guardians can't threaten Butter City, so he thinks that letting them wipe your people out is a good solution."

"I've already explained to him that they're not like usual water mobs," said Bluemonkey. He too looked annoyed. The hair on his back and neck bristled and he pulled on his tie. "They don't suffocate on land."

"I don't know what else to do to persuade him short of actually bodily throwing him into the ocean so he can fight a few and see how hopeless it is," Husky grumbled.

"Maybe he'll agree to help if you tell him that there's treasure hidden in their fortresses," I said sarcastically.

"What?" All three of them looked shocked.

"What kind of treasure?" There was a kind of desperation in Husky's face that made me hesitate a little but I chalked it up to hope for survival.

"Gold," I said. "We found out about two months ago. It was impossible to break the blocks that made up the pyramid but we wandered through the hallways until we stumbled on it. It was purely by chance and we took massive losses that day."

The three players looked at each other with sudden optimism.

"How much gold, Lady Sophie?" Weedlion asked frantically.

"Eight blocks," I said, puzzled by their enthusiasm. "They're encased in a three by three formation of prismarine… Where are you going?"

They were sprinting away towards the main group, where Sky sat with Ssundee, Jason, Mitch, Jerome, and the pale man with the headset. I followed more slowly, picking up bits of their conversation as I approached.

"How can you say that! … so many losses… Seto… Dawn… Kermit… Caveman… no way… Let it go already! Shut up Deadlox… I can't… You don't understand…"

Sky was clearly very displeased with the arrangement, but they all stopped talking when they saw the four of us.

"Sky!" Husky yelled. "Forget about the squids. The Guardians have butter hidden in their pyramids."


	5. Revelations

The moment the word "butter" left Husky's mouth, everything about Sky's demeanor changed.

His expression, which had been tight and twisted with anger and grief, relaxed. His eyes were hidden behind the patches but the way he turned eagerly towards Husky, I had no doubt that they were bright with fervor. His fists unclenched and his shoulders relaxed.

"Why didn't you tell me this earlier?!" he almost screamed at me.

I flinched. "I… I didn't think it was relevant." I had no doubt that "butter" was some kind of code word for gold, but why did it have such an effect on Sky?

"Are they in all the pyramids?" he asked.

"I don't know… Wait, I could check. General Nix took a chunk of our army to try and storm another pyramid. If you'll excuse me for a moment, I can go get the portal and he might be able to show you himself."

"Go!" Sky snapped.

More than a little frightened, I removed Husky's helmet and ran back down the watery hallways to my chambers. The portal was empty but I knew Nix would answer if I called again. Using a squid pickaxe, I disassembled the blocks and carried them back to the great hall.

All the players were looking at me with interest and hope. I put the helmet back on and reentered the air. Carefully, I stacked the blocks in a five by four rectangle, leaving a two by three empty space. I tossed a golden ink sac into the frame and it opened up with a hissing _woosh_.

The first thing that came through was the sound. Squid wolves were barking and growling as they tore apart a lone Guardian, who squeaked helplessly as it dissolved into ectoplasm. The wet sounds of squid swords shredding Guardian flesh accompanied by the grunts of squid men as they hacked and slashed. The humming of the Guardians' lasers recharging and the long low buzz of them firing. Metallic clangs as wounded Guardians extended their defensive spike shields.

I glanced at the group. They all looked a little shaken and scared, but Bonkers in particular looked horrified. The blue glow of her flesh had dimmed to almost nothing, and her antennae drooped. An opaque white tear oozed out of one of her red eyes. I remembered what Ssundee had said- she didn't like fighting. Weedlion put his furry arm around her armored shoulders and led her away.

Finally the image came up. Nix appeared. His armor was wrecked and he was oozing ink from dozens of laser burns, but he didn't seem seriously wounded.

"Lady Sophie!" He was shouting to be heard over the noise. "We haven't gotten far, but we cleared the first floor. We're going to retreat soon. The losses aren't as bad as we expected but-"

Suddenly, his eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed. I screamed as another being appeared where Nix had stood. It looked like a Guardian but it was at least three times bigger, and greyish-brown instead of pastel green. Once again, I felt the strange awful intelligence pressing against my mind. I staggered and fell. Mitch pushed and pulled me into a sitting position.

The pale orange eye of the massive Guardian fixed on me and a terrible noise rang through the corridors of the pyramid. The men and wolves staggered, but did not fall as Nix and I had done. The smaller normal Guardians seemed to rally and they attacked with new vigor.

Words, spoken by the creature, echoed around the hall where we stood.

"**_I… SEE… YOU_**."

Then it vanished.

I didn't remember what happened next, but when I recovered, I was leaning against the wall in the water. Father, Tyronica, Archon, and the guards were hovering over me, looking worried but uncertain. Husky was kneeling next to me pressing a bucket of something to my lips.

"Drink, Lady Sophie. It will taste disgusting to you, but whatever spell the monster put on you will end."

I took a sip and almost vomited. The liquid was thick and bitter, with a sour tang, but I felt better immediately. My vision cleared and I regained enough strength to take the bucket from Husky and finish the contents. I handed the empty container back to him and stood up.

He looked pleased. "Milk erases all status effects," he explained. "I wasn't sure how you'd react to a potion. Do you know what that was? I couldn't tell if it was Weakness, or some kind of Fatigue…"

"It was Mining Fatigue three," Nix called from the portal. I had forgotten he was still there. "That thing makes the rounds every couple of minutes and we all get it. It's why we could never break the blocks fast enough to damage the pyramids. If anyone knows what it is or where it comes from, that information would be really helpful right now."

"Mining Fatigue three," Mitch mused. He looked at Ssundee and Jerome with sudden enthusiasm. "Maybe we could hack an Efficiency enchantment. Like, two-fifty-six or something."

Sky looked at Mitch in disgust. "After all the trouble you have with hackers in the Games, I would think you'd want to stay as far away from their methods as possible."

Mitch shrugged. "Legitimate or not, they still end up beating me. Let go of winning honorably, Sky. This is about winning quickly and decisively."

I could feel the old tension seeping up between them, but this time I intervened.

"Now that you've seen firsthand what the Guardians are capable of, are you more amenable to an alliance?" I asked Sky.

He frowned. "Can I see the treasure room in the pyramid?" he asked Nix.

Nix shook his head. "It's on the second floor and absolutely crawling with Guardians. It's there though, I assure you. Lady Sophie, isn't the gold we took from the first pyramid in the castle treasury?"

"Of course." I had forgotten about it. "Squids don't mine; we don't need to. The ocean's natural resources are more than enough to keep us housed and fed. We have little, if any, mineral wealth. But we kept the gold because it was easy to mine, and that it must have some connection with the Guardians' mindset. There are some other blocks we managed to take as well from places where they weren't as active and we could spend the necessary time to mine them."

Bonkers sniffled and wiped her eyes with the back of her clawed paw. She seemed more composed now that the sounds of the fighting had died down. "We all have some degree of Respiration and Aqua Affinity on our armor," she said shakily. "We will last for a time in the water. Could we be allowed to see the treasury, Lady Sophie? If it isn't too much trouble for you."

I glanced uncertainly at Father, but he just shrugged. "I don't see why not," he said. "We have hardly anything that humans would find valuable."

I beckoned the guards and Anna to me. "Follow us," I told Sky and the others.


	6. Sharing Isn't Caring

As we walked down the cobblestone hallways, the players pointed and murmured at their surroundings. They seemed particularly interested in the prismarine lanterns set high in the ceiling to provide a very dim light.

"Do you not have these in your world?" I asked Ssundee. He seemed particularly fascinated.

"No," he replied. "I've never seen anything like these. Did you get these from the pyramids?"

"In a way. That Mining Fatigue enchantment has kept us from successfully breaking prismarine blocks inside the pyramids before we're attacked, even with our strongest enchanted picks, so we can't take the ones that form naturally, but we learned how to craft them." I smiled grimly. "When a Guardian dies of non-natural causes, they leave behind shards of a material we called prismarine. With careful crafting, we developed these from their remains. I suppose you could call them spoils of war, however humble."

He nodded thoughtfully. "We use primarily torches to light our homes, but you couldn't use those underwater, of course. Have you ever heard of glowstone, Lady Sophie?"

"Yes, but that isn't a real thing, is it?"

Ssundee frowned at me. "I assume you have never been in the Nether, Lady Sophie?"

"And you have?" I laughed. "It's a myth told to frighten young squids into staying in their pods at night, nothing more."

"Oh, it's no more a myth than you and your world, although the inhabitants are far less hospitable than you have been to us."

I shuddered at the thought. In the story Anna had told me, the Nether was a terrible place of smoke, fire and lava where the undead walked freely alongside beasts that spewed fire from their eyes and mouths. The fliers that Nix commanded could shoot fire charges at surface enemies, making them formidable foes, but there was a reason Nix and the other generals dealt with them and not me. To me, who needed cold and darkness to live, the Nether sounded horrifying.

We had reached the iron doors that barred the treasury. "Anna?" I asked.

She pulled a small black item from a pocket inside her gauntlet. I couldn't tell if it was a lump of coal or an ink sac, but she tossed it into the hopper set in the floor. A moment later the doors snapped open and the players gasped.

Even in the dim light, the sight must have been striking. Chests were piled high with shining prismarine shards, crystals, and blocks. Others were full of golden ink sacs. Squid armor hung on armor stands lining the room, and item frames held squid swords and other tools. The rare human items we had obtained from the ectoplasm of dead players was in other chests- feathers, flowers, seeds, iron, gold, diamonds, emeralds, redstone, mossy cobblestone, wood, and assorted types of food.

Bonkers scooped up a lone prismarine shard that had fallen from a chest and turned it over gently in her claws. It glowed with its own light. "They drop these when they die?" she asked.

"Yes," I told her. "It never fails to surprise me that something so beautiful can come from something so evil."

"Then there is hope for him," Bonkers murmured. She discreetly gestured at Sky, who was sitting by the stack of eight gold blocks with Husky. The expression on his face could only be described as transcendent, but Husky looked furious and impatient.

Before I could ask her what she meant by that, there was loud laughter from a corner of the room. I turned to look, more than a little nervous.

Jason, Mitch, Jerome, Ssundee, and Deadlox were huddled by the obsidian and glass cage that encased a live Guardian. Jerome chuckled and tapped a long white claw against the glass, making the Guardian within squeak with impotent rage and hurl its small green form at him through the window. Despite all its effort, it couldn't break through. Jason let out a long distorted gurgly laugh and tapped the window again, to renewed furious squealing.

"I have a terrible feeling about this," Bluemonkey remarked, eying them critically. He and Weedlion were standing by a chest of prismarine blocks and examining the rough shimmery surface. Bluemonkey had a small book and quill in his hand, with which he was tallying the number of times the block changed color.

"Lady Sophie, how does a Guardian attack a target?" Weedlion asked. He was starting to flick his claws in and out again. I figured this was his version of a nervous tic.

"They have two methods of attack," I explained. "On the offensive, they swim around and chase the target, keeping the laser locked on them until it's ready to fire. Once it is, and the target hasn't gotten out of their sight, their beam will turn from purple to yellow and that's when the damage is dealt. If you can manage to get something solid between you and the beam before it turns yellow, you're safe and you won't get hurt. If you can't get out of the way fast enough, it hits hard. I don't know exactly how much harm it does per shot, but I've seen them kill fully armored soldiers in three strikes."

I didn't realize I was shaking until Bonkers gripped my hands in her small four-fingered ones. I took a moment to breathe, but continued.

"The other one is if they've been hurt, or if the laser was unsuccessful. They have these spikes that come out of their skin, like a puffer fish. If you hit one while it has the spikes out, it'll try and stab you with them. If one gets in you, they break off and they're really hard to pull out. The only saving grace is that they can't use both of their attacks at once."

"If- if it gets out of the tank somehow," he said, "would it be able to kill us?"

I looked at their armor. He, Bluemonkey, Bonkers, Jason, Ssundee and Deadlox wore diamond, and Mitch and Jerome wore iron. Husky's suit was chain mail and Sky wore gold. Every inch of it was enchanted.

"I don't know," I answered honestly. "It would target any of you first before me. They won't attack squids if they have the option to attack a player. Also, the laser isn't the kind of thing armor is designed to protect against. The enchantments help a little bit, but Sky and Husky just aren't as well protected as the rest of you."

Weedlion let out a self-righteous huff. "I was afraid of that," he grumbled. "Better stop them now." He started walking over to them. "Hey guys-"

And then it happened.


	7. Trouble

I later found out that Jerome had gotten overzealous with the glass tapping and had accidentally broken it. In the moment, it seemed as if the world had gone mad.

For such tiny creatures, Guardians were nothing to be taken lightly. The humming purple laser locked onto the unfortunate Deadlox, who panicked and ran straight into the locked doors of the treasury.

"Open the damn door!" he screeched furiously and pounded on the unyielding metal. "I'm going to die!"

"Shut up!" I yelled back. "Get behind those chests!"

He didn't move, but Mitch bravely tackled him and they rolled behind an armor stand. The laser beam cut off and Ssundee hacked at its pebbly skin.

He got in one good hit before the defensive spikes erupted from its flesh and his second strike was deflected with a _clang_. Two spikes impaled his bicep and wrist and he screamed, wrenching his arm free and trying unsuccessfully to remove the barbed points.

The laser hit Jerome next. For such a large animal, he was remarkably fast and agile. He jumped over a chest and ran straight towards the creature. Just before the laser turned yellow, he sprang behind two stacked chests and it cut off. He charged it again and before it could lock on the laser or eject its spikes, buried the diamond blade of his axe in its staring orange eye.

The Guardian let out a squeak of pain and anger and locked on to him again. He jumped out of the way and the beam cut off once more. Sky and Husky struck it from two sides at once and backed away before it threw up its spiky shield. It sank slowly to the floor in this position until it realized no one was attacking it. Then it shot another laser beam at Mitch.

Mitch, surprisingly, didn't dodge. He stood still as the laser settled over his heart.

"What are you doing?! Move!" I shouted. He shook his head at me and yelled, "Jason, kill it!"

Jason charged up from behind the Guardian and slashed once, twice, three times. When the damage was done, Mitch tried to get behind another armor stand to block the laser, but he was too slow. The beam turned bright yellow and a sizzling white hole opened up in his iron chest plate, oozing with ectoplasm. He howled and collapsed, writhing, as the heat of the burn was quickly cooled by the water.

Jerome raced up, grabbed him, and dragged him behind two other chests. Meanwhile, Ssundee had managed to rip the spikes from his arm and attacked the Guardian again, but missed both strikes. His injury was taking a toll, I realized, and I pushed him out of the way and plunged my own sword between two spikes.

A burning pain spread through my upper chest and I realized a spike had pierced my armor close to my collarbone. I ignored it and wrenched away just as it refocused its laser on Sky.

"No!" Deadlox screamed and slashed at its exposed belly, but missed. Sky hopped behind two stacked blocks of prismarine and the laser cut off once more.

I expected it to aim for Husky next, since he had been right next to Sky. But when I looked, he was nowhere to be seen. Where had he gone?

Suddenly the Guardian turned away from them and started drifting towards the empty corner of the room.

"What's it doing?" I yelled. "There's no one there!" Jerome shook his head frantically as he uncorked a small bottle of shimmering pink liquid and tipped it into Mitch's mouth. Ssundee was swearing furiously as he tended his wounds and Weedlion and Bluemonkey were supporting a hysterical Bonkers.

Before I could take advantage of the Guardian's odd behavior to run over and finish it, a diamond sword blade erupted from the skin of its back. It let out a final squeal and its form crumbled away into ectoplasm. Two shards of prismarine and a dead puffer fish lay in the pile of thick bluish fluid.

I looked up in horror at the sword floating in midair, with no player behind it.

"What-" I stammered.

The water around it seemed to twist and warp. Husky reappeared with a smug look on his face. "Invisibility potion," he said. "Mobs can feel a presence but not enough of one to actually attack. You have to take off all your armor for it to work, but they're very helpful if used correctly."

"Lady Sophie?" Deadlox asked. His voice had lost its shrill tone. "You're wounded."

I had forgotten about the spike in the heat and panic of the fight, but I pulled it out and tried to brush off the pain. "It's nothing," I told him. "Are your friends okay?"

"I'm fine," said Mitch weakly. The burned hole in his flesh had closed and healed, but his armor was still damaged. He flicked the chest plate carelessly. "This is easier to fix."

"Also fine," Ssundee added. His armor was dented from the spike in his upper arm, but his wounds had also closed.

"What about her?" I asked, gesturing to where Weedlion and Bluemonkey were soothing and patting the sobbing Bonkers.

Sky looked at me impatiently. "We're all fine. Let's get out of here before those two buffoons let any more monsters out." Jerome and Mitch actually didn't argue this time, just walked past him looking ashamed.

I tapped on the door. "Anna? It's dead, everyone's fine, you can open it now."

There was a click as the doors disengaged and Anna peered in. "Oh good. I'm so sorry about that, but castle protocol is to isolate the threat. If it had gotten out, we might have been able to kill it but our squid armor isn't exactly military grade."

"We understand," said Deadlox. He gave her a creepily charming smile. "If we could return to the main hall, there are some additional terms to the truce agreement that we'd like to finish discussing with King Aegis and the others."

When we returned, they collapsed in the open air and started whispering among themselves. Father rushed over to me, looking horrified.

"Clumsy idiots," he grumbled, examining the hole in my chest plate. "I could have them all killed for endangering you, Sophie."

"No," I said. I was sick and tired of dealing with the players and dealing with Father. The rush of fighting had long since worn off and I just wanted to go lie down. "It was good for them to fight a real one. See what they're up against instead of just looking at the scary pictures."

"You could have died."

"Do you have so little faith in my skills?"

Father looked stung. "Of course I have faith in you, Sophie. But you're my daughter. I will always worry."

I had to smile at this. "There's nothing I can do about that."

"Lady Sophie?" Deadlox called from the other side of the room. "Are you ready to complete the negotiations?"

"Yes," I told him. Father, Tyronica, Archon, and I walked over, coming as close to the air as we could get.

Husky stepped forward. He looked irritated and dubious, and it came through clearly in his tone. "Sky… has asked that we be able to choose who we will take as a hostage back to Butter City. He says that it will make everyone involved feel more secure."

Tyronica gave a neutral bob of her head. "I see no reason as to why we cannot accommodate that request," she said. "I can summon our eligible citizens to the palace within the hour-"

"No," Sky cut in. "We intend no offense, but you have expended thousands of citizens to destroy us. We would be foolish to think that your word could be upheld with a single life of an ordinary squid."

"Then who do you want?" I demanded impatiently.

He turned to me with an icy smile. "You, Lady Sophie."


	8. The Pact

My blood turned to packed ice in my veins. My lips and hands went numb and I stood as still as one of the armor stands. I could hear Father and Sky screaming at each other, but their voices echoed in my ears as if I was hearing them from a distance.

"You cannot do this!" I heard Father shout. "I will not risk the life of my daughter on the word of a murderer!"

"Oh, but I can." Sky smirked coldly. "Or would you rather battle the full might of my forces while you try to avoid extinction?"

"She is the heir to the kingdom!" Tyronica yelled. "And the commander-in-chief of the squid army! If she leaves, all of us are lost!"

"Take her," Archon warned, "and I swear, our last act before we are exterminated by the Guardians will be to wipe out every last one of you. You have lost four of your friends forever; how many more deaths will it take for you to realize what a conceited fool you are?"

"King Aegis, I swear we have no interest in killing your daughter," Ssundee hastily pushed Sky out of the way and cut in. "We have no doubt you are perfectly capable of carrying out your threat." He dragged Sky away from the others and said something inaudible in a low, harsh tone. Sky looked defiant at first, but as Ssundee continued whispering, his expression turned surprisingly repentant.

"She saved us in the treasure room," said Deadlox. "Her knowledge of the Guardians' tactics was invaluable. She will not be a hostage as much as our guest, King Aegis. Through her, we can exchange knowledge, technology, weapons, and so much more."

His soothing words had the same effect on Father, Tyronica, and Archon as they had when Sky and Mitch fought earlier. The tension seeped slowly out of the air.

What he did next shocked me. Without putting on any armor or other protection, Deadlox crossed the air-water boundary and knelt on one knee in front of Father. I could see the bubbles pouring out of his nose and mouth and realized the statement he was making. He was deliberately putting himself in danger of drowning in order to try and convince Father of his sincerity. Whether the sentiment was genuine or not, I had to admire his bravery.

"On my honor," he said firmly, "on my life, I swear to you that I will die before I let any harm come to your daughter. We are not at war with each other. Let the past remain in the past."

"She will still be able to communicate with you and the squid army commanders," said Husky. "We would not dare isolate her from her people. The conversations will be monitored but there is nothing to worry about. I too would give up my life before Lady Sophie is injured in the slightest."

Father seemed to relax a little. "You would allow her to take her portal with her?"

"She may take all of her possessions and equipment with her," Sky said. His tone was far gentler than before. Whatever Ssundee had said seemed to have mellowed him considerably. "Her residence will be safe and comfortable; I will assign people to attend to her every need. And she may use the portal whenever she likes, or even return here to visit you, under supervision of course."

"You cannot fight them alone," Jason rasped. "But neither can we. Lady Sophie, what do you say to our proposal? I know this comes as a shock to you but I cannot imagine having someone less competent or prestigious than you assist us in our efforts, or supply us with the information we need. Will you help us?"

Despite his rough voice and the frightening smile he gave me, Jason's words were kind and soothing. My tongue finally detached from the roof of my mouth. "I must speak privately with my father," I told the players. My words were steadier than I had expected. With Sky's nod of approval, Father and I left the hall. I could feel Tyronica and Archon scowling at us as we left and knew they didn't trust Sky and his friends in the slightest.

"I don't know what to think," said Father. The words were forced from him slowly and painfully. "They swore they would not hurt you. But he is bent on taking you back to his city. I'm certain he will not accept anyone else we offer."

"I have no choice," I murmured. "I have to do this. It isn't just about killing the Guardians anymore, Father. I meant what I said earlier, that I would forgo anything if it meant putting an end to the war. I don't trust Sky, but I do trust Husky and the others. They know you are able and willing to obliterate them from this world or any other if anything happens to me. Father, we've never interacted with humans except for when we killed them. This is our chance to learn about them, and for them to learn about us. For the first time, we'll be speaking to them with words, not swords. And if all goes as promised, even if we can't settle our differences, at the very least we have a chance at reclaiming our home. Sky and the others will have the spoils from the pyramids, and he may even leave us in peace for a while." I didn't dare to hope that any of this could be true, but the image of Deadlox kneeling before Father and swearing that he would lay down his life for mine came to mind. I felt an odd calm- or was it resignation?- settle over me.

Father shook his head desperately. "I can't lose you too," he said softly. "I've already lost Dara to them. Please be careful Sophie."

"Of course I will be," I said. "But Father... If it comes to a decision, I will sacrifice myself in a heartbeat if it means our people can be saved."

He looked at me in anguish and his eyes welled with tears. "I have never been so proud of your bravery," he whispered. "But I have never been so afraid for you."


	9. Saying Goodbye

Three days later, the portal to the player dimension surged with white light. Bonkers and Jerome stepped through, followed by two humans- a girl and a boy.

I was waiting for them, along with Father, Anna, and several guards. Tyronica and Archon had refused to attend, saying that this was a terrible mistake that would surely lead to the demise of our species. I had overridden their objection by saying that I had willingly decided to go, but they both remained unconvinced. I didn't bother with trying to change their minds. Frankly, I didn't care what either of them thought of my decision. It wouldn't have affected it anyway.

"Good morning Lady Sophie," Jerome growled. He bowed politely to my father and Anna, then to me. "Are you ready to leave?"

"I'm afraid I need some help carrying my things," I said. "But beyond that, yes, I'm ready."

"Excellent," said Bonkers. She gestured to the girl and boy standing behind her. "This is Ashley and that is Ryan. They've volunteered to help you with moving into your new home and getting acclimated."

They bowed, looking nervous and excited. Ashley was short and curvy in a white shirt and jean shorts with suspenders. Her dark brown hair was waist-length, like most female players, but it wasn't straight and sleek. It was styled in voluminous waves and floated around her head like a poofy halo in the water. Her big, light brown eyes were guileless and gentle. She was no threat, I decided.

Ryan was tall and well built. His expression was partially hidden by a fitted black mask that covered his head and the upper half of his face, leaving only his mouth, nose, and white eyes showing. The rest of his body was plated with artificial black armor with a stylized bat sigil on the chest. Over it all, he wore a black cape with the same sigil on the back. His eyes sparkled with pleasure as he surveyed his surroundings.

"There are a few chests of stuff in my room that still need to be moved," I told them. "How much can you carry?"

Ashley frowned and counted on her fingers for a moment. "Um... thirty-five items, Lady Sophie. We also have ender chests so it should be enough."

I didn't know what she meant by "ender chest" but I didn't ask. "If you could follow me?" They both put on full suits of enchanted diamond armor and stepped easily into the water after me.

I led them to my room but they stopped in the doorway. "I'm sorry Lady Sophie, but we can't see in here. Is there a light?" Ashley asked timidly.

I winced. Of course they couldn't see, it was pitch dark for them. "Oh Notch. I completely forgot. I can't put on any lights because they're too harsh for me in a space this small."

"Ashley," said Ryan pointedly. "I have night vision splash potions."

Her face reddened and she looked embarrassed and contrite. Ryan used his teeth to yank a short cork out of a small blue bottle and he threw it at her. It burst open on the cobblestone at her feet, spraying the shimmering contents everywhere. I shied away from it, not knowing what effect it would have on a squid. The fluid seemed to cling to Ashley's armor briefly before being absorbed into her body.

Ryan did the same to himself and rapidly blinked his white eyes as his pupils contracted. "Much better. Are the items in these two chests here, Lady Sophie?"

"Yes," I said. "Do you need help or can I leave you here? I need to check a few more things with Father and the others before I go."

"Of course, Lady Sophie," Ashley said. She was already pulling items out of the nearest chest and transferring them to a smaller green and black chest that glowed with a strange purple aura. "You can count on us." Ryan looked dubious behind his mask but said nothing.

I left them to their task and returned to the hall. "Father," I called. "You gave them our prismarine samples, right?"

"He did," said Jerome reassuringly. "Along with a map of the pyramid, a complete set of squid armor and tools, some golden ink sacs, and a squid wolf."

I smiled when I saw Bonkers scampering around the water side of the hall with the wolf. "We have wolves on land too and they are very much like these ones," she said happily. "I think you will enjoy your stay with us Lady Sophie. Sky may have sounded hostile when he was here, but he spared no expense in creating a beautiful home for you."

Of course he did, because working with me could bring him more gold. But I didn't say that out loud.

"Lady Sophie?" Ryan's resonant voice echoed through the hall. "It is done."

"Thank you," I told him. He and Ashley emerged from the corridor carrying the strange chests I had seen them using earlier.

"Would you like a moment to say goodbye to your friends and family. Sophie?" Jerome asked.

I nodded and walked over to Father and Anna. Without speaking, they pulled me into a close embrace.

"I will miss you terribly Sophie," Anna whispered. "But you are clever and beautiful and the smartest young woman I know. You will be fine, I am sure." She stroked my hair and sniffed. "Please visit us often, so that I know you are well." Anna pulled away to wipe her eyes and nose, leaving Father and I alone.

He cupped my face in his hands and kissed my forehead. "I have great confidence in you Sophie. Never forget that," he said haltingly. "I will always worry about you though." I rolled my eyes and he brushed the tears from his eyes, then pulled me close again. "Above all else, never forget that I love you."

He released me and I walked away from them towards where Jerome and Bonkers were waiting by the portal to the player world. Just before I was out of earshot, I heard Father say, "No matter what happens."


	10. Know Your Enemy

When I passed through the portal, I was bracing myself for the shock of air and light, but was surprised to find myself in the dark waters of an ocean biome. It was cold, refreshing, and perfect. The feel of the salt water washing over my skin was so pleasant, I nearly fell over. I took a deep happy breath but almost choked as I took in my surroundings.

The square room I stood in was the same size as the entire squid castle. It was built of polished grey and white blocks, paved with soft blocks of royal blue and lighter blue. Blue tinted windows looked out across an incredible seascape of sand, gravel, and clay. The high vaulted ceiling curved gracefully- a surprising feat that the builder had managed with the decorative use of stairs.

In each of the four walls were two iron doors controlled by little stone buttons set in the blocks. Signs indicated where they led. One said "Personal Quarters/ Sleep/Dining," the next said "Storage/Study/Meeting Rooms," another said "Tools/ Armor/ Weapons/ Supplies," and the last said "Airlock/ Dry Land/ Butter City."

Ashley and Ryan were waiting for me by the door to my rooms. "We've unpacked your things, Lady Sophie, is there anything else you need?"

"No, thank you," I said. "However, when I'm finished moving in, could either of you show me around Butter City?"

Ryan shrugged apologetically. "I'm sorry Lady Sophie, I have a prior commitment. Ashley is free, I believe."

"Oh! Oh yes, I'm free," said Ashley excitedly. "When will you be done? There's so much to look at here."

Her enthusiasm was infectious. "It won't take long, you can wait here. I'd love to see everything."

I hurried down the flight of dark wooden stairs and pushed open the door that led to my room. It was about as big as my room in the castle, but much more extravagant. The walls were made of smooth stone bricks, textured with brick stairs. The floor was made of the same soft supple material as the main hall, but this was more of a greenish teal blue. A bed sat in one corner against the wall, with a small chest beside it. Four large chests stood out of the way in the other corner, but I thought I could deal with them later. A massive teal-tinted window took up the other two sides of my room, overlooking another stark beautiful ocean scene.

I removed my squid armor and sword and went to stash them in the chest by my bed. When I opened it, I saw that the chest was full of small shimmery bottles, like the one Jerome had given Mitch after he was attacked by the Guardian. A written note lay next to the pile of potions, and I took it out to read it.

_Dear Lady Sophie,_

_I hope you enjoy your new home. It was a great pleasure to make._

_In the chest are potions of Water Breathing. For players, they enable us to breathe and see perfectly underwater. I observed how you reacted to the Respiration enchantment on the helmet I lent you in the castle and thought these might have the same effect on you. Try drinking one when you next decide to set foot on land. I am not certain it will work, but I know how much pain the light and air caused you._

_Also, try not to become dependent on these. They are not difficult to brew, but the main ingredient is hard to find. Use them as a tool to ease your breathing and vision when needed, but I expect you to try and adapt to the land._

_Best regards,_

_HuskyMUDKIPZ_

I was a little shocked at his generosity. After meeting with Husky for the first time in the castle, where he had presented himself as a cruel, arrogant being, his kindness was a pleasant surprise. I returned the note to the chest and picked out one of the bottles. When I shook it in my hand, the contents swirled gently in the bottle, shining with purple light. After putting on a simple black dress, I slipped the bottle into my pocket and went back to the main room to meet with Ashley.

She was bouncing from foot to foot, looking impatient. "Hurry, Lady Sophie! The Games have started and we're going to miss them if we don't get to the arena soon!"

"Games?" I asked, confused.

She shook her head in exasperation. "No time to explain, just follow me."

She slapped the button on the door marked "Airlock" and sprinted up two flights of white stairs until I could sense we were near the surface. "When I open this door, there's going to be air but no light. Are you going to be okay?"

I took a deep breath and nodded. The door opened with a click and I stepped through.

Again, the dry air seared my throat and lungs but I breathed shallowly until the pain subsided a little. Ashley looked concerned. "Is the air hurting you, Lady Sophie?"

"A little," I answered. I tried to hide the fact that yes, it was actually hurting quite badly. "But I will be fine. Let's keep moving."

She opened another door and some sunlight came through. It wasn't much, but it was enough to blind me temporarily. "It's really foggy outside, so the light is a lot dimmer than it usually is. Are you still doing all right, Lady Sophie? We really don't have to go outside today if it's too much for you."

"I will be fine," I repeated, and blinked as I tried to clear my eyes. "How do we get to Butter City from here?"

Ashley opened a small chest against the wall and took out a tiny metal cart. She placed it on a line of wood and iron tracks and it grew to full size with a small pop. "Have you ever ridden in a mine cart?"

"No," I said warily. "How do I get in?"

"Climb over the side but be careful. Don't let it touch that red and yellow rail right there or it'll leave without you." She giggled. "I've seen it happen a lot."

I hiked up the skirt of my dress and carefully stepped into the cart. It was small, but comfortable.

"Brace yourself," said Ashley, and she gave me a slight push forward before punching a wooden button on the wall next to me.

The cart shot forward and I gripped the sides for dear life. The speed increased every time the cart went over another red rail.

"Isn't it fun?" Ashley yelled. I looked behind me and saw she was sitting in a mine cart of her own. "We'll get there in no time! Look, you can see the walls of the city now."

I turned around and peered at the horizon. I caught a brief glimpse of black and white buildings with pale yellow walls as we flashed past and towards the great castle that overlooked the residential area. We zoomed up a series of stairs and finally stopped in a wooden room with two doors labeled "To Meeting Room" and "To City."

"Get out of the cart and then push it towards the red rail there," said Ashley as she hopped out. "It'll go back to your house on its own."

I did as she told me and watched the carts disappear down the stairs. "Hurry, the arena's this way," Ashley said, pulling on my hand. She seemed to have become much more at ease in my presence than before.

As we walked through the city, no one gave me a second glance. I blended right in, with my pale blue hair streaked with darker blue, blue-tinted skin, and my black dress with matching shoes. There were far stranger creatures wandering around that I instinctively cringed away from. Men with the rough skin and desolate faces of creepers dressed in formal suits walked alongside women whose flesh looked like redstone ore. Genderless robots conversed with girls in brightly patterned jackets, loaded with accessories. A few players wandered around completely naked. No one seemed to care.

"Look, my favorite seats in the arena are open! Let's hurry before someone else takes them," said Ashley. We pushed our way through the dense crowd. A few people called to Ashley by name, and she waved but didn't stop until we were sitting in the very front row of seats between two pillars on the balcony.

"We missed most of the game, but we got here in time for the good part! The Death Match starts soon," she said and pointed to the center of the arena.

It was domed with plain glass blocks and the ground below was sprinkled with tall grass and bright flowers. Blocks of brown damp-looking sand were scattered around the center where a roofed dais held a dozen small chests. The dais was ringed by tiny platforms made of smooth stone and slabs of reddish wood. As I watched, the surface of the sand blocks seemed to roil, expanding and contracting by itself. I shuddered and looked away.

A loud chiming noise echoed through the stands. The crowd began chanting.

"Death match! Death match!"


	11. Deception

"What's a death match?" I asked Ashley.

"Well, basically, the objective here is just to fight to the death in this arena with limited resources. The play area covers a really wide space, and after most of the players get killed, it gets harder and harder for the survivors to find each other. The Death Match system teleports all of the remaining players to the spawn area right here after a certain amount of time has passed. It keeps the Games from becoming boring."

As she spoke, there was a burst of blue sparks and four players appeared in the grassy space below us. Three I didn't recognize, but the fourth was Mitch.

The cocky smile I had seen him wearing in the palace was gone, and in its place was cold, deadly determination. He was armored in a strange array of materials- an iron chest plate and helmet, gold leggings, and diamond boots. His sword was diamond as well and its blade shimmered with a weak purple aura.

His opponents were substantially less battle-ready. Two wore gold chest plates or iron boots, but their swords were plain iron. One was dressed only in leather and held a stone sword.

Ashley winced and pointed at him. "That poor guy must have hid the whole time. Today he'll learn that cowardice doesn't pay."

There was another chime and a burst of sparks, red this time. Mitch and the others leaped from their stone pedestals and attacked.

The boy in leather armor was the first to go. His opponents converged on him and he temporarily disappeared from view. When the remaining three players retreated, there was nothing left of him but fading traces of ectoplasm and a few scattered items.

They stood at the far edges of the arena, sorting through the items they had obtained from the dead player. I spotted his armor being discarded, as well as his sword and some seeds and flowers. The two players with iron swords looked at each other and I sensed a tacit understanding pass between them. Together, they charged at Mitch, who was still arranging his things and didn't see them.

Ashley jumped up and ran to the railing that separated us from the arena, dragging me with her. Together we watched with bated breath as the team came closer and closer.

At the last second, Mitch raised his sword. The two blows glanced off the fragile-looking crystal in a shower of sparks. He slashed at the player to his right, and the sword suddenly flared with blue light at the moment of contact. The enchantment threw the man at least five blocks away from Mitch and landed stunned in a corner.

The crowd whooped and cheered as Mitch turned his attention to the woman with the gold chest plate. She was faster and more agile than her partner, and no matter how many times he swung, she danced out of range. When she struck him, her attacks couldn't penetrate his armor, but he couldn't hurt her either. Mitch finally gave up and returned to finish off the man, who had regained his feet and was charging again.

Mitch ducked the first swing, took the next two across his chest plate, then cut a deep gash in the man's leather armor. Once again he went flying through the air, but this time he landed with an audible crunch of bone. He struggled valiantly but couldn't seem to stand up again.

Mitch stalked over to the man and pointed his shimmering blade at his throat. He looked up until his amber eyes met mine. Without blinking, he drove the sword through his enemy's neck. The man's body dissolved into tendrils of ectoplasm, and his empty armor clattered to the ground. A large pile of items also lay around the spot where he had been killed, but Mitch didn't seem interested. He gave me another significant look, and walked away to deal with the woman.

I stood still as a stone in shock and horror. My stomach twisted into knots. Mitch was sending me a clear warning- if I decided to use my time in Butter City to exterminate the players, this was what would happen. Ashley pulled on my arm, oblivious to what had passed between us.

"It's down to the last two, Lady Sophie! Watch or you'll miss it!"

I forced a smile and turned my attention back to the fight. The woman had managed to evade him and get to the pile of her fallen partner's items. She now stood with her back to him, quickly replacing her leather boots with his iron ones and eating a piece of cooked meat. Mitch remained a polite distance away, allowing her to prepare for their fight.

But even after a few minutes had passed, she didn't move from where she stood. The crowd started yelling, booing, and egging Mitch on. He eventually threw up his arms in exasperation and charged her, sword raised. She still didn't move, even though she had to have heard his footsteps or the roar of the crowd. Why?

Suddenly, I felt it again. It was the cold, foreboding sensation that I had last felt when sending Nix to the pyramid. Something here was terribly wrong.

"No!" I yelled, not knowing what it was or why. "Mitch, stop! Don't go near her!"

Mitch couldn't hear me. He came closer and closer to his target. Ashley and some of the players around us gave me confused looks.

"Lady Sophie?" Ashley asked. She put her hand on my arm and patted it reassuringly."Is everything all right?"

Mitch was within striking range. The diamond blade flashed purple and blue as he swung at the woman, cutting cleanly through her gold armor and laying open her back. Ectoplasm poured freely from the wound, swiftly forming a puddle on the ground near her boots. The crowd chanted Mitch's name and hurled volleys of abuse on the woman. But she didn't go flying through the air the way the man had done. And she still didn't turn and face him, or make any move to save herself at all.

An awful sound rent the air- a cry of mortal agony so great, I thought a whole crowd of people was screaming.

But it was Mitch. He dropped his sword and staggered back from the woman in shock, holding out his arm in front of him.

His light skin had turned bright red. As Ashley and I watched in utter horror, his flesh began to blister and then melt away. Ectoplasm dripped to the ground as his affected limb dissolved into the air. The red flush continued up his body and I saw it cover his neck and face. His features began to blur and melt. The crowd was instantly on its feet, screaming in anger.

"What's happening to him?" I yelled, but no one heard me. Ashley was hysterical, desperately trying to jump over the fence into the arena.

Mitch was on the ground now, convulsing and gasping for air. His eyes were rolled back so far in his head that I could no longer see his amber irises. Streams of ectoplasm poured from what was left of his mouth and nose. A second later, his entire form disintegrated and vanished. His armor held his shape for a moment longer, but eventually rolled apart to reveal the last slimy lumps of ectoplasm within.

"Hacker!" I heard someone shout. The rest of the spectating players took up the chant, shrieking and stamping in rage.

Jerome appeared next to Ashley in a burst of blue light. He grabbed her shoulders, pulled her back from the fence, and pinned her arms behind her back with one massive furry paw. "Someone call Sky!" he yelled. A small wooden button appeared in his claws and he slapped it onto the pillar in front of him and punched it.

A high whine pierced the air, growing louder and higher until I could no longer hear it. There was a thunderous grinding and clanking beneath our feet and the blocks began shaking. I clung to the balcony railing and watched openmouthed as the arena transformed. A block in the balcony floor next to Jerome shifted to the left, revealing a wooden lever on the block beneath. Squares of nine white blocks in the arena walls slowly retreated to the sides and into the ground. Bright orange liquid that glowed with a malevolent light began to slowly flow into the grassy area from the empty space left behind. A wave of terrible heat struck me and forced me to step back from the edge of the balcony.

The woman finally looked up, only to realize that the exit points in the arena were blocked by the steadily advancing liquid. Fear was plain to see on her face as she ran back and forth trying to find a way out. When she couldn't, she drew a bow and arrow and started shooting into the arena crowd. None of her shots connected, as they were deflected by an invisible force separating her from the spectators.

"What's going on here?!" I heard Sky bellow from the other side of the arena. I looked up as he ran down the stairs towards Jerome with a shaken but miraculously intact Mitch in tow. The crowd swiftly parted to let him pass. A few people knelt down.

"Hacker using kill aura!" Jerome shouted back. "She wasn't even facing Mitch when he died."

I stared at the woman in the arena, fascinated. So this was what Sky had been talking about in the palace when he mentioned hackers in the Games. She looked him square in the eye, defiantly ignoring the bright fluid advancing towards her.

Mitch's words came back to me: "Let go of winning honorably, Sky. This is about winning quickly and decisively." She had won quickly and decisively, that was for sure. Maybe Mitch was right. Maybe hacking was a viable option. I made a mental note to talk with Mitch more about the other hacked abilities he had seen.

Sky shook his head at her disapprovingly. His mouth was a thin, tight line. A book appeared in his hand and he leafed quickly through the pages until he found an entry. He ran his finger across it, frowning as he read.

"Third one today," Sky griped to himself. "We need better screening protocols... Okay." He looked up when he addressed the woman. "Your IGN is TrinityNicole97, real name Nicole Higgins. You are hereby banned from competing in any Hunger Games henceforth and sentenced to six months in prison. Any evidence of cheating or hacking during another game mode after your sentence is up will be punished by permanent exile from Butter City. Do you understand?"

Nicole glared at him for a moment longer, but eventually nodded.

"Good," said Sky tartly, and he flipped the lever.

The one remaining block in the center of the arena that wasn't covered in liquid, where Nicole stood, snapped sideways. She screamed as she tumbled into the darkness below. When she was gone, Sky pushed the lever again and the block ground back into place. Jerome pushed the button again, and the arena walls restored themselves. The liquid on the ground slowly sank into the earth and disappeared.

I was speechless as I looked at the aftermath. The grass and flowers had been wiped away where the liquid had touched, and all that was left was bare dirt and patches of the creepy brown sand. Mitch sighed and ran his hand through his brown hair. Jerome gently patted his shoulder.

"I'm exhausted and I need some food. Jerome, let's go eat and then we can come back for another round."

"You're okay?" I asked. "After all that? After she practically melted you alive?"

Mitch shrugged. He looked jaded and tired. "It happens to me a lot more than you'd think."

"I think Lady Sophie has seen enough of the Games for today," said Jerome. "Ashley, why don't you go introduce her to some more people? Mitch and I will come visit you soon, Lady Sophie." Jerome removed the button from the pillar, bowed slightly, and left with Mitch. Ashley tugged on my hand and led me towards the exit.


	12. An Education

"I'm sorry you had to see that," she said sadly. "The Games aren't always like that, I promise. Hackers ruin everything."

"I'm sure they're usually amazing," I said, trying to console her. "Mitch did very well, even when it was two against one."

Ashley's eyes sparkled. "He's great," she said reverently. "One of the best to have ever set foot in any Hunger Games arena. Maybe we can come again when he and Jerome are both playing. Then you'll really see a good show, Lady Sophie."

"So what happened at the end there?" I asked. "I've never seen anything like that. How did the blocks move by themselves?"

Ashley's expression lost its downcast look and she turned to me with new enthusiasm. "It's too hard for me to explain, but I can take you to meet him! The man who designed the arena and all of our other games. This way," and she pulled me down a side street.

It was starting to get dark outside and my eyes stopped stinging as my natural night vision activated. Ashley started double-checking behind us and an enchanted iron sword appeared in her free hand.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Monsters," she said. "This is around when they start spawning."

"What kinds of monsters?"

Ashley looked at me, surprised. "Have you ever seen land monsters, Lady Sophie?"

"I know of them, but I've only seen one type once," I said. "When I was very young, Mother took me to the beach near a jungle. There was a creeper walking around in the bushes. Then an ocelot appeared and it ran into the water right next to us all of a sudden. I actually touched it before Mother yanked me away." The memory made me smile. "I don't think the other mobs have any way of getting to the bottom of the ocean, and they're probably not interested in attacking squids."

"That makes sense," she said thoughtfully. "Still, stay close to me and take corners as wide as you can. Neither of us have armor."

We kept walking, passing houses that were small, large, grand, and plain. The houses in this area were widely spaced, built on wide dirt plots with signs in the front bearing the owner's name. Finally Ashley stopped in front of an elegant wooden house with a framed piece of redstone dust over the doorway. The sign at the front read, "SethBling."

"Seth!" Ashley called. "It's Ashley, and there's someone here you should meet."

There was no answer. I looked at her uncertainly.

"Typical Seth," she grumbled, and pushed open the door.

The foyer was a mess. Had it been clean, it would have been beautiful, but it was streaked with stray trails of redstone dust. Stacks of strange components lay in the corners and on top of every available surface. I could hear faint clicking and clanking sounds in the next room, and we went in.

A man was sitting on the floor with his back to us, muttering to himself. I could see a red shirt and blue coveralls tucked into brown work boots. He had unruly dark hair held in place by a red cap. In front of him was a complicated system of components and strange blocks wired together with redstone. It was all connected to lurid green, pink, and yellow blocks that clanked back and forth when the other components lit up and moved.

"Seth!" Ashley yelled.

The man jumped up, scattering redstone dust everywhere. The components in his lap clattered to the floor. He gave her a resentful look.

"Hi Ashley," he said. "Look, I'm a little busy right now. Could you come back in a few days?" He saw me and frowned disapprovingly. "Why is there a squid with you?"

"Seth, this is Lady Sophie," said Ashley. "She's King Aegis's daughter. You heard about the Guardian invasion from Husky, didn't you?"

Seth shook his head. "I saw Husky just the other day but he didn't mention anything..." He counted on his fingers for a moment. "Wait, no. I'm sorry, I've completely lost track of time. It's easy to do. No, I haven't seen him in ages. What's going on?"

"New mob," said Ashley. "Attacking players and squids. They kicked Husky out of his palace and somehow they can also survive on land. Sophie's here to help us find a way to defeat them."

Seth looked grim. "Aggressive mobs attacking peaceful mobs. I've never heard of that before."

"Me neither," I said wearily.

He shrugged. "Maybe this is good. Not the Guardians, of course, but what we're doing to fight them. Humans and squids collaborating peacefully to defeat a common enemy." He beamed suddenly at me. "You and I can learn from each other."

A girl with blue hair wearing a pink and black checked dress came in. "Message for Ashley Mariee from Sky."

Ashley took the proffered book and read quickly. "Sky wants to talk with me right now. Just me. Is it okay if I leave you here Lady Sophie?"

"It's fine," I said. "I'll meet you back at my home." She nodded and left with the messenger.

Seth sighed and started picking up the items he had dropped when we came in. "Do you know much about redstone engineering, Lady Sophie?"

"No," I said. "There are some in the palace that know a little of the basics, but I never had the opportunity or need to learn."

He nodded thoughtfully. "Redstone doesn't do well in water. If there's any trace of a current or flow, it gets washed away. In the air though, it's incredibly useful and you can make almost anything if you have the time and the skill. Like the minigame arenas. I designed and built all of those for Sky."

"Did you hear about what happened at the Hunger Games?" I asked. "A hacker killed Mitch during the death match."

A scowl darkened Seth's bearded face. "Hackers. The scum of this city. What did you think of the traps?"

"They were incredible," I said honestly. "It was perfect. How did you do it?"

He picked up one of the components and held it out for me to take.

"This is called a sticky piston. See the green slime smeared on the flat surface there? That enables it to push or pull blocks back and forth or up and down. It doesn't look like it from the inside or outside, but those walls are four blocks thick. There are a bunch of those hidden in the arena. If there's a hacker present at any time in the Games, Jerome, Mitch, or Sky can place and press a button on the balcony pillar that's closest to them. It doesn't matter which pillar, they're all wired in. The hacker is teleported to the spawn area, unless they're already there, and trapped when the pistons pull the blocks away and release the lava into the arena."

"I've never seen lava before," I said, fascinated. "I've never seen most of the blocks in this city."

He looked at me in surprise and approval. "This must be your first time on land around players then. I can teach you about some of the things here, but there are others who deal with strange things that I know nothing about. In some areas, they will be more helpful than me."

Seth led me upstairs into a wide open studio room with large windows. Chests were stacked three high on each wall. He dug through a few and began placing down a wide variety of blocks, naming them as he went.

Slowly I began to learn. The blocks that made up my palace were polished diorite and polished andesite. The soft blocks on the floor as well as the ones Seth had been pushing around were different colors of dyed wool. Seth's house was made of birch and dark oak planks, with detail work made of acacia wood fencing. Obsidian was hard and had a jagged surface with a soft purple sheen. When constructed into the proper formation and lit on fire, it provided a portal to the Nether, where the white blocks in the walls of the arena and the twitching brown sand came from.

"You've actually been there?" I asked, fascinated. "Tell me about it."

Seth looked shocked. "Of course, everyone has. Oh, wait, you've lived in the sea your whole life. The Nether would be the last place you'd want to go. Frankly, it's the last place I would want to go. Creepy mobs, fire everywhere, an absolute ocean of lava, and this crap." He waved derisively at the block of sand. "When you walk on it, it slows you down so that everything that wants you dead has a nice long window of opportunity to kill you. And did I mention that everything there looks almost exactly the same? So even if you do manage to get away from the monsters, finding your way home is a whole other struggle."

"I want to go there," I said.

"Forgive me, Lady Sophie, but you have no idea what you're talking about."

I shrugged. "Do you know someone who could take me there?"

He started to answer, but the same messenger who had sent for Ashley came in again. "From King Sky to Lady Sophie." She handed me a book.

I opened it and read to myself:

_I apologize for the interruption; Ashley tells me that you're with Seth learning about redstone and all the different land blocks. We need to talk about the premonitions of danger you've been having before certain events happen to people near you. You already told me about the strange presence you felt when you sent General Nix and your forces to the pyramid. Ashley and a few other people said that right before Mitch got zapped with the kill aura during the Hunger Games, you yelled at him to stay away from her. I'd like to know more. Come now, please. _

Seth was watching me. "What's he want?"

"Wants to talk about me sensing danger," I mumbled, reading it over again. "Gotta go now."

"I suppose you must," he said, looking a little downcast. "Well, feel free to come back after you're done. I seldom have the opportunity to teach others."

I shook Seth's hand and then gave the book back to the messenger. We left his house and started towards the shining castle that crowned Butter City.


	13. The Powers That Be

When we got to the palace gates, I was surprised to see Sky in full golden armor with a gold sword standing outside and alone. "It's nighttime, shouldn't you be sleeping?"

He shook his head dismissively. "One night of monsters is no big deal. Keeps the city patrol on their toes. Now, there's someone who I think can explain what you've been feeling. I don't know if he's awake at this time of night, but we'll go over anyway. This way," he said and pointed to a road made of mossy cobblestone. "Are you armed?"

"No," I said, a little annoyed. "I thought I was going to be watching a game with Ashley, not taking a midnight hike through the wilderness."

Sky chuckled. "Well, you should be fine. Land mobs will leave you alone. They will target me though, and you might take some collateral damage if you're too close. Walk a few steps behind me. Is your breathing okay?"

I had almost forgotten about my lungs in the excitement of the day's events, but when Sky mentioned them, they gave a pointed throb that said my breathing wasn't really okay.

"No," I said reluctantly. "It's not. But I've been putting off taking the potion."

"Now might be a good time. The person we're going to see is a good sixty or so blocks away."

I took out the shimmering blue bottle and uncorked it. An unsettling smell of rotten fish, old mushrooms, and metal wafted out, but I held my nose and gulped it down. It tasted ten times worse than it smelled and I nearly threw up. Sky let out a cough that sounded suspiciously like laughter. But when it took effect, I forgot all of the unpleasantness in the relief that followed.

My lungs had been burning horribly, I realized, after all of the pain was soothed away by the potion. The light given off by the gibbous moon toned down considerably and my night vision came up to full.

"All good? Let's go," said Sky, and he led me down the cobblestone path.

I hadn't realized how few of the dozens of biomes I had seen until now. The path faded away to faint traces of stone and wound through a dense forest filled with massive trees. Giant brown and red mushroom caps peeked through the tree trunks every now and then. The grass was lush and velvety under my feet and I even saw a few dandelions sprouting underneath a hole in the canopy of leaves.

There was a twang and a soft thump. Sky whirled around, shoved me to one side and jumped to the other. Stunned, I looked up and saw the shaft and fletching of an arrow sticking out of a tree near where Sky had been standing a moment before. I turned to see who our assailant was and stared into the two empty eye sockets of a skeleton archer.

It raised its bow to fire again, with a soft clatter of bone striking bone. Before it could loose another arrow, Sky drove his sword into the empty ribcage. A burst of magical green sparks erupted from the blade as it struck. The skeleton fell apart and its ectoplasm dispersed in the air as the bow and arrow fell to the ground.

He picked them up, stashing away the arrows but keeping the bow out. "If I get attacked by another one, this could come in handy," he remarked.

I got up and we kept walking. Sky was extra vigilant this time, checking behind us every few steps and taking the bends in the path as wide as he could where they wound around the trees. There was a bright clearing up ahead and we rushed towards it before anything else could confront us.

We emerged in a plains biome. Gently rolling hills textured the landscape, and a slight breeze made the tall grass shimmer in the moonlight. Animals grazed peacefully in herds clustered around pools of water bordered with wild sugarcane. It was incredibly beautiful.

"There it is," said Sky, pointing at a wood and cobblestone house on the horizon. "Let's move faster, we're wide open here if something wants to come at us."

I hurried along behind him. Now that I looked more carefully, there were monsters everywhere. Groups of zombies wandered aimlessly around, moaning and snarling. Skeletons took a few shots at Sky, but he was out of range. The glowing red eyes of spiders were visible through the grass. There was even a hulking enderman carrying a grassy dirt block watching Sky with its bright purple eyes. It teleported away in a swirl of purple particles.

We arrived at the house in no time. I was a little tired and starting to get hungry, but I didn't say anything. Sky knocked politely on the door, but when there was no answer, he pushed right in.

Two players were standing around a kitchen table made of a cobblestone fence post and a wooden pressure plate. One was a zombie in a sharp black business suit. His white button-down and red tie were impeccably pressed. Gold cufflinks and a gold belt buckle completed his look. Despite his put-together appearance, he seemed agitated and kept pacing back and forth in front of the other.

The second man looked far more relaxed and less formal. He was human, and wore a suit as well, but his jacket was open and the button-down was unfastened at the top. He wore no tie or cufflinks, and his sleeves were rolled up to his forearms. His hair was messy, but his black beard and mustache were perfectly trimmed. As we came in, he turned to peer at us over red-rimmed sunglasses. "Hello Sky," he said. "Syndicate and I were just having a little business chat- oh my. Are you aware that there is a squid with you?"

"Of course I'm aware," said Sky irritably. "I brought her here. But if this is a bad time, we can leave you two alone…" He grabbed my arm and started edging towards the entrance.

The man called Syndicate raised his hand and pointed at the door. A deep red aura seemed to flash around him for a moment and the door slammed shut.

"Oh no, please stay," he said, and bared small rotten zombie teeth at us in a hideous imitation of a smile. "Jordan and I were just about to have dinner and then I'll be gone."

Jordan shrugged and adjusted his sunglasses. "If you want to stay, fine. But don't let Syndicate scare you too much. He can't hurt you here." He walked over to a furnace and took out some steaks. "Are you hungry?"

"I'm starving," I blurted out. Sky looked like he'd rather be anywhere else, but I didn't really care. "Dinner sounds great."

Jordan smiled happily and started serving out an assortment of food- bread, steak, mushroom soup, baked potatoes, and melon slices for dessert. Syndicate looked uncomfortably smug as he slurped his stew, but Jordan didn't seem to care, so I didn't either. Sky's hand was clenched around his sword hilt and he looked ready to get up and run at any minute. I nibbled on my loaf of bread and tried to ignore the growing tension.

"So, Lady Sophie," said Syndicate. "How are you enjoying your time on land?"

A chill went down my spine. "I don't remember telling you my name."

His grin widened. Twin red sparks suddenly ignited in his black eyes. "You don't have to tell me anything." The red aura I had seen around him earlier intensified. "There's little I don't know already."

"But really," said Jordan. "Why are you here? Sky had a strict no-squids policy last time I checked."

"We're all in danger," I said. I told them about the Guardians, how their mysterious pyramid fortresses had appeared overnight, forcing the squids to retreat to the squid dimension and our fight to reclaim our home. "They're threatening players too. Husky's been forced to live on land because they drove him out of his palace. They don't suffocate on land. If they get to a body of water, any water anywhere, they can keep multiplying. And their attacks can penetrate armor."

"Syndicate," said Jordan. For the first time, there was an edge to his voice. "Your doing?"

Syndicate slammed down his empty soup bowl and gave him a withering look. "Why is it always my fault?" he demanded petulantly. "There are higher powers that control this world, you know, and there's nothing I can do to affect that."

"It sounds like something you would do," said Jordan coldly. "Spreading chaos is your job, and this is nothing if not chaos."

"As much as I'd like to take credit, nope. Not me. Find another scapegoat," he said. "Personally, it sounds like Jericho had a really good idea and then botched it up like he always does."

"That's how it always is for you," snapped Jordan. "Always Jericho's fault and not yours. And then when I go talk to Jericho, it's your fault and not his."

"You chose your side," Syndicate snarled. "And we chose ours." He gestured and every window in the house exploded outwards in a shower of broken glass. The red radiance around him grew even stronger. Fear made my stomach clench and I shrank back.

Sky grabbed me and pushed me under the table, then drew his sword and pointed it at Syndicate. "I don't know what's going on here but-" His sentence was cut off as Syndicate grabbed him by the neck and slammed him against the wall, then twisted his wrist until his sword fell from his hand.

"You think you have any power over us?" he sneered. "Your status in Butter City has gone to your head, it seems." His aura blazed up and he effortlessly threw Sky across the room, where he smashed into the opposite wall and lay still. I crawled around the underside of the table until I was as far away from Syndicate as I could get.

"You've made a terrible mistake, Tom."

There was a faint hum, and a burst of green and purple light filled the room, emanating from Jordan's form. His power seemed to overwhelm the other man and Syndicate shrank back, covering his eyes with his hand. Jordan's blue eyes behind his sunglasses had turned milk white and were glowing. "You do not threaten me or my guests in my own home."

He waved his hand and a cloud of violet glitter enveloped Syndicate's head, choking him. Syndicate fell to his knees, looking up at Jordan with pure hatred.

"This is neutral ground," he continued, ignoring the fact that Syndicate was suffocating right in front of him. "I will not have it polluted with the influence of Dianite."

On the other side of the room, Sky struggled to his feet and ran over to me. "Are you okay, Sophie?"

I stood up and nodded, a little shaken but less scared now that Syndicate had been subdued. Jordan picked up Sky's fallen sword and handed it back to him. He swept his hands in a wide gathering gesture and the glass from the broken windows flew back into place. Only then did Jordan release his hold on Syndicate. The purple sparks vanished and he gasped for air. Syndicate staggered upright, gave Jordan one last furious glare, and stomped outside.


	14. Hope

"I'm really sorry," said Sky. "If we hadn't interrupted-"

"That was in no way your fault. I'll be honest, there was really no other way our meeting could have ended," said Jordan placidly. The aura of power around him was gone, and his eyes had turned back to their normal dark blue. He picked up another potato from the pile on the table and took a bite. "When I have to take a side, nothing ever goes right."

Sky yawned and nodded. He glanced outside. "We've been gone a pretty long time. I need to send a message to Deadlox and make sure he's not worried or anything. Is it okay if I leave Sophie with you, Jordan?"

"Just fine," he said. He finished the potato, brushed the last bits off his hands, and walked out. "Come help me harvest my carrots Sophie."

We went outside to his sprawling farm. The sun was beginning to rise and the sky blazed pink and orange tinged with blue. Wheat, potatoes, carrots, sugarcane, melons, pumpkins, and cocoa beans grew in beautifully tended plots as far as I could see. Cows in a nearby pen nosed at the fence posts and watched Jordan as he took some wheat out of a chest and fed them.

"What are you?" I finally scraped up the courage to ask.

"It's not what we are, it's who we represent," he said. He threw the rest of the wheat back in the chest and beckoned me over to the carrot patch. "Syndicate, Jericho, and I are just regular players. But we're also pawns in a much bigger game. When Notch built this world, he made it dynamic, alive, filled with creative energy. His intent was to make a place where anything could be possible, and for a while, it was. But all worlds need a guiding hand, and he left us alone for too long. The energy that he had been using to make new and different possibilities eventually became something darker… I don't want to say it was corrupted, but it changed, and not for the better. Eventually it became what you saw in Syndicate just now- the spirit of Dianite, god of chaos. At the same time he came into being, so did his brother Mianite, the god of order."

I pulled a handful of carrots from the moist dirt and thought about what he'd said. "So Syndicate and Dianite are evil and Jericho and Mianite are good?"

"It's not that simple. Dianite is much like Mianite, really. They're both short-tempered, a little arrogant, not always the brightest torch in the room, if you know what I'm saying. But they're both brothers and opposites. It's in their very essence to fight each other no matter how similar they are. When they did, all of creation hid from their wrath. They prayed to Notch for a way to end the devastation. He didn't answer, but the energy from their collective thoughts formed a third spirit- Ianite, the goddess of balance. I am her emissary."

"So what were you talking about with Syndicate when Sky and I got here?"

"Oh, I don't even remember," said Jordan wearily. "I think Syndicate thought Jericho stole his sword or something. The sword was a gift directly from Dianite, very special to him. I wouldn't put it past Jericho to actually have taken it in revenge for Syndicate blowing up his home yesterday, but Syndicate may also have just misplaced it and is being paranoid. Being the Peacekeeper is no easy task."

I carefully poured my armful of carrots into a chest. Jordan walked behind me, reseeding the plowed dirt. When we were finished, he took the rest of the wheat out of the cow chest and handed me half. "Help me load up this mine cart Sophie. By the time we're finished, Sky should be back."

He led me downstairs, where a mine cart sat on a dead powered rail. Jordan took out a chest and placed it down inside the cart, and we loaded it with the stacks of wheat. He pressed a small stone button nearby and the rail flared with red light, making the cart speed off down the tracks.

"Where's that going?" I asked.

"The prison cafeteria," he said. "I supply most of their food. Ssundee runs the prison and he gives me a cut of the diamonds and other minerals they mine down there."

I was about to ask him more about the prison when Sky came hurrying back, huffing for breath.

"Spoke to Deadlox. He was a little worried. Everything good."

"Excellent," said Jordan cheerfully. "Do tell all of them that I said hi. It feels like I haven't seen any of you in forever. Now I'm sure you didn't come here to watch Syndicate and I bicker. Did you have a question?"

"Yes," said Sky. "Now I don't know much about squids or interacting with mobs. But Sophie's been having premonitions of danger before someone close to her is hurt. I've never heard of something like that happening and I've never experienced it myself. Do you know what could be causing this?"

"Of course," said Jordan mildly. "It's simply because she's a mob and you're a player. You weren't born in this world, you adopted it as your home. But this is all Sophie has ever known. This place made her who she is and the flow of its energy runs through her being the way it runs in all mobs. The premonitions are happening because she has that connection to her environment that none of us players will ever have or understand."

He staggered suddenly, as if he had tripped. But when Jordan looked at me again, his eyes were glowing white the way they had when he forced Syndicate to submit to his will. It wasn't Jordan who was looking at me anymore, I realized. It was Ianite herself.

Sky knelt down and touched his forehead to his knee. Jordan went to him and very gently raised him by his shoulders until he was standing again. The look on Sky's face was one of awe, respect, and wonder.

"That is no way to greet a friend." The voice that issued from Jordan's mouth was a woman's voice, rich and musical. "It has been so long since I saw you last."

"It has, Queen Ianite," Sky murmured. "I am honored by your presence."

"You have changed so much." Ianite sighed. "Everything has changed so much. But I see you have made a sort of peace with your former enemies." She turned to face me, and her white eyes burned into mine. They shimmered with soft waves of blue, purple, and green light. I felt it was rude to maintain eye contact, but I couldn't look away.

"Lady Sophie," she whispered. "The squid princess." Her voice sent chills up my spine.

"Yes, Queen Ianite," I replied. My voice shook more than I was comfortable with and I tried to regain control. "I am honored to meet you."

Ianite reached out with Jordan's hand and delicately tucked a stray lock of my hair behind my ear. "You are too young for this war," she said softly. "But few others could bear to see what you have seen or do what you have done. You came here willingly, not caring about your own safety, but the lives of your people."

I didn't know what to say, so I stayed silent.

"I cannot interfere with the lives of mobs or players," she said. "None of us can. But I know that there is a way to save your people. You will be the one who discovers the solution, and the squids will honor your name for all time."

"There's a way? Tell me!" I begged.

"I cannot say," she murmured. "To do so would be to interfere in the matters of fate. But if all goes as planned… you will not only heal your world, but this one as well."

The white glow faded from Jordan's eyes and he blinked, looking disoriented. "What was that?" he asked in his normal voice.

"Ianite spoke through you," Sky told him. "She told Sophie that there was a way to save the squid kingdom from the Guardians, and that she was going to be the one who found it."

Jordan looked impressed. "Anything else?"

"Yeah," I said. "She told me that I would be able to help your world too. But it didn't seem like she was talking about the Guardians."

He sighed. "Well, you saw how Syndicate acted when he was here. Notch only knows how much help our world could use."

There was a brief awkward silence, and then Sky cleared his throat.

"If everyone's done, Sophie and I should head back," he said. "It's been a long day all around and we need some rest."

"Oh," said Jordan. He looked a little sad. "I was hoping Sophie would stay for a little longer and we could finish up on the farm."

"Staying sounds fine," I said quickly. I didn't particularly want to walk back with Sky and have to discuss what Ianite had said. "I'll be fine to walk back on my own now that I know the way."

Sky shrugged. "Whatever," he said, and started back towards the forest on his own. I watched him go until he disappeared over a hill, and then followed Jordan towards a pen full of multicolored sheep.


	15. Sunset

I finally returned to my underwater home and collapsed on the bed in my room. By the time I'd finished helping tend Jordan's farm, it was nighttime and he insisted that I stay. We had eaten freshly made cookies and traded tales about our lives around a crackling netherrack fire until the moon sank down on the horizon and the first pink traces of sunrise were beginning to show. Eventually I had fallen into a restless sleep haunted by dreams of the pure, blossoming world as it had been before the rise of Dianite and Mianite in the stories Jordan had told.

There was a timid tap on my door. "Come in," I called weakly.

Ashley's bushy hair peeked around the corner, followed a few seconds later by her face. "Is everything all right Lady Sophie? You weren't here last night."

"Everything's fine, Ashley, I just need some sleep."

"Okay," she whispered. "I'll be in your lab if you need me." She retreated and closed the door.

"Lab?" I muttered sleepily. But I was too tired to be curious. The moment my head touched the pillow, I fell asleep.

_I stood in a strange world of floating islands, stubby trees, and thick fluffy clouds. The air was crisp and cold. Pools of water fell from one island to the next in graceful waterfalls that made rainbows in the sunlight with their spray. I walked over to a nearby tree to shield myself from the relentless sun. When I looked at it more closely, I noticed the foliage was a deep grayish turquoise and the dark trunk was flecked with silver. The grass under my feet was also blue-green and crackled when I stepped on it._

_This was not the Overworld._

_"Hello Sophie."_

_I turned to see who had spoken. A player, a human man, waved and started walking over to me. He wore simple, comfortable clothing- a blue vest over a white t-shirt with blue pants and sneakers. Under his red cap, he had brown hair and brown eyes. There was nothing about his general appearance that suggested anything special, but his form was bathed in royal blue light. It was Jericho, I realized. The scion of Mianite._

_"Where are we?" I asked. "Am I really here?"_

_"No, you're not really here. This is the home of the gods," he replied. "We call it the Aether. If the Nether is hell, this is heaven."_

_He pointed to a bright sphere of light in the distance. At first, I couldn't make out its form, but it seemed to be a perfectly round island where every surface gleamed golden. Flying creatures with broad gold wings circled around it. "That is the home of one of the servants of Dianite. People call him the Sun God, or the Sun Spirit. As long as he lives, it will never be night on this world."_

_"Isn't that good?" I asked him. "There are no monsters here anymore."_

_Jericho scowled. "Dianite placed him here to destroy the order of this world, and he has. The sun must set and the moon must rise so that the balance can be maintained. It does not matter what good he may do, Sophie. His works can only bring chaos and destruction, and it is my job to thwart him at every turn."_

_I frowned. This didn't feel right to me, but I didn't say anything for fear of offending him, even in a dream. "So Mianite sent you here to kill the Sun Spirit to spite Dianite."_

_"Not me. Her."_

_I looked in the direction he pointed. Running footsteps crunched on the stiff grass, coming towards us. It was a woman wearing some sort of striped orange costume, her long brown hair flowing from under the hood. She didn't wear armor, or carry a sword, but she glowed with the same blue light as Jericho. When she passed us, she didn't even look up and I realized that Jericho was only here in spirit as well._

_"That is Firefoxx," he said. "Like me, she follows the path of Mianite. It is her task to end the Sun Spirit's hold on the ways of this world."_

_He snapped his fingers and the scene around us changed. We stood on the golden island. The grass here was soft and fine, but the air close to the ground was uncomfortably hot and humid. I squirmed and itched at my exposed skin._

_Firefoxx was only a few blocks away from us, standing in front of a crafting table and some sort of glowing grey and gold container. She poured a handful of translucent yellow chips into the grey box, then added some pieces of an odd ore that glittered with bright pink flecks. Instead of just sitting in the small bowl at the top of the block, the chunks rose into the air, suspended in midair by nothing at all. The box let out a low hum as the chips of fuel levitated as well and began to spin around the ore, adding an unearthly golden radiance. As I watched, the pink material began to melt and ooze out of the cracks in the veined stone, forming a solid lump encased in the rocky matrix._

_When all of the ore had been smelted, Firefoxx laid out the pieces in the crafting table, making a suit of armor, a sword, and a pickaxe out of the pink gems. Once she was arrayed for battle, she climbed to the top of the island and dug straight down, disappearing into the dirt._

_Once again, the setting dissolved and reformed. Jericho and I were inside the island. I gasped aloud. The round island was concealing a wide room lined with maroon bricks, and the only light came from the walls which glowed from the heat. There was a tiny side entrance that led outside, but Firefoxx hadn't bothered to use it. She dropped from the ceiling above us, landing noiselessly on the floor in the very center of the room._

_The instant her boots touched the ground, fire erupted from the floor, growing larger and brighter by the second. I shielded my eyes with my hand, but I couldn't look away as the flames began to morph into the form of a man's upper body. Features formed in the blaze, first a muscular stomach and chest, then powerful arms, broad shoulders, and a proud handsome face. His skin rippled with orange and red light, like lava. Where his legs should have been, there was only a trail of sparks. My mind screamed to run, to get away from this being. I started to back away towards the hall that led outside, but Jericho's hand clamped down on my shoulder. Blue radiance pooled on the bricks at my feet and I felt as if my legs had been encased in stone._

_Firefoxx approached the glowing man and raised the pink sword to strike. But before she could bring it down, he suddenly spoke._

_"Begone human. You serve no purpose here."_

_Firefoxx did not deign to reply. She swung the sword, cleaving easily through his fiery skin. But it didn't seem to hurt him. He rotated to face her._

_"Your presence annoys me. Do you not fear my burning aura?"_

_"No," she said boldly. "I fear none of Dianite's fiends."_

_The man closed his eyes and turned away from her, as if he were bored. "I have nothing to offer you, fool. Leave me at peace."_

_She slashed at his form again, slicing through his stomach. But like the first time, his skin rippled with flame and the cut disappeared. He turned back and glared at her impatiently. _

_"Perhaps you are ignorant. Do you wish to know who I am?"_

_"I do not know," said Firefoxx coldly. "And I do not care."_

_"I am the Sun Spirit," he said, "embodiment of Aether's eternal daylight. As long as I am alive, the sun will never set on this world."_

_"You have ruined the cycle of day and night," Firefoxx retorted. "You are nothing but an evil creation of the lord of chaos, set here to defile the order of the system."_

_"My body burns with the anger of a thousand beasts. No man, hero, or villain can harm me," he said. Scorn glittered in his yellow eyes. "You are no exception."_

_"I am no mere human!" Firefoxx shouted. Her voice echoed powerfully around the room and her blue aura reached new heights of brillance. "I am a servant of Mianite, sworn to end all of your foul master's works! You are the one who will die today!"_

_"You wish to challenge the might of the sun?" He laughed. "You are mad. Do not further insult me or you will feel my wrath."_

_"I. Am. Not. Afraid," she snapped. "Order will always be stronger than chaos."_

_"This is your final warning. Leave now, or prepare to burn."_

_Firefoxx did not move. Her blue aura rippled and the pink armor snapped into place around her body. She raised her sword defiantly._

_The Sun Spirit's handsome face twisted in a snarl of rage. "As you wish. Your death will be slow and agonizing."_


	16. Slipping Away

The next thing I knew, Ryan was shaking me awake. "Sophie! It's just a dream! Wake up!"

My eyes flew open and I gasped for breath. Then I remembered where I was. I was in the water, in a cool dark room, not in the Aether on the fiery island of the Sun Spirit.

"Are you okay?" he asked. His expression, though hard to read behind his mask, was concerned and kind. "What was it about?"

"The Aether," I whispered. "Dianite and Mianite."

Ryan's lips tightened into a thin line. "Come outside for a moment Sophie. You should see this."

He supported me as we left the castle and swam to the surface of the lake. "Do you see them?" he asked, and pointed to the sky.

I looked up. Thick black clouds covered every inch of the sky and I could barely see the crescent moon. Thunder roared and forks of blue, red, and purple lightning arced back and forth. Small fires flared up along the forested coast where the bolts struck the land.

When I looked closer, beyond the clouds and lightning, I saw three towering figures in the sky, outlined with light. One was a small thin man with flowing white hair, brandishing a staff from which bursts of blue lightning flew. Another was a hulking horned monster with a brilliant red orb in his clawed hand, shooting small balls of red energy that exploded in the clouds where they fell. The third was a woman in a flowing white cloak made of clouds. The gouts of energy flying from both gods were absorbed into her hands, which were glowing with rippling violet light.

"They haven't fought like this in years," Ryan told me. "Butter City is on lockdown, but the damage has already been done. There are few buildings which haven't been burned to the ground, and the monster spawn rate is through the roof. Night patrol can't keep up. Sky sent me to make sure you were okay, and when I got here, you were screaming. What exactly was happening in the dream?"

I told him about my vision of Jericho in the Aether, and Firefoxx challenging the Sun Spirit to fight. "Dianite must have realized the Sun Spirit was being attacked, so he went to fight Mianite himself. Where's Jordan? I can see Ianite trying to stop them from fighting."

"I don't know, but I would imagine he's up there with them. Listen, Sophie, you're safe here for now, but when it's over, Sky and the others need you at the palace."

"Why?" I asked.

"We need to discuss sending you home. It's too dangerous for any of us, especially now that the old rivalries have awakened. They promised your father that nothing would happen to you. Letting you stay in a situation like this is insane."

"Home?!" I couldn't believe it. "But we still need your help! I haven't even been here two days and we still need to discuss strategies for combating the Guardians. I'm not going home without a solution."

"If I were you, I would rather tell my people I'm coming home than have my ancient sworn enemies announce that I am dead," said Ryan pointedly. "You should speak with your father yourself. Go back inside and use your portal. Your decision to stay or leave is between you and him. But there is no one among the players who does not doubt he will raze Butter City to the ground if you are hurt as a result of this war."

I was too angry to speak. I swam back down to the castle door and stomped back to my room, fuming. Too dangerous? I was tired of being babied by Sky, Ryan, Ashley, and my father. Did they think I had hatched yesterday? I stacked up the portal blocks and threw in the ink sac, fuming the whole time. Gradually, the scene came up.

Father, Tyronica, and Archon were sitting in the war room pushing prismarine crystals and ink sacs around on the map that symbolized the undersea battlefield in the player dimension. They were talking quietly but insistently and stopped when they saw me in the portal.

Father's frown of concentration was replaced by a broad smile. "Sophie!" he exclaimed. He hurried over to stand closer to the portal's viewing area. "How are you doing? Is everything all right?"

"It isn't, actually," I said. "But I personally am fine. What's happening?"

"The squid army returned yesterday. They did hugely better this time, and I'm incredibly proud of both you and Nix for devising that new strategy. They took far fewer losses than last time and they managed to get into the third floor of the pyramid, but they still couldn't clear it completely. The big gray Guardian keeps coming in to rally the smaller ones and the soldiers can't swing their swords fast enough under the Mining Fatigue to kill it. They got some other block though, I've never seen it before. Here," and he tossed a few soft yellow blocks through the portal to me. "Maybe the players will know what it is."

I scooped them up and put them in the nearest chest. "Nix is okay, right?"

"Well, he's alive. Not uninjured, though it's nothing that can't be healed."

I felt as if a weight had been lifted off my back. "And everyone in the city is still doing well?"

"As well as when you left. It's only been a couple of days Sophie."

"Things here have gone crazy," I told Father wearily. I did my best to explain to him what I had learned about the gods who ruled the player dimension, and their struggle that kept the world in balance. "Their rivalry has gotten worse. Father, they're fighting each other as I speak, in the open, without any care for the collateral damage. Butter City and the surrounding areas have been devastated." I took a deep breath and tapped my fingers against my thighs. "The players want me to go home and stay safe."

"But you haven't even spoken to them about a solution!" said Tyronica angrily, coming around the table to the portal. "That was the whole point of this agreement!"

"I said that too," I grumbled. "If I come home, I could die. If I stay here, I could die. Dying really isn't high on my list of worries Tyronica, I have got bigger fish to cook. Ryan told me to speak with you because he's worried about what you'll do if they don't tell you that I'm in mortal danger here."

"They swore to keep you safe," said Archon gently. "I do not know if it was out of love or fear, but they are simply doing their best to keep their promise, Lady Sophie."

"I'm a Notch-damned general, for Jeb's sake!" I snapped. "Do they think this was just given to me because I'm your daughter, Father? I paid for this responsibility in ink and tears, and I'm not giving up just because some human thinks it's 'too dangerous.'"

"I agree with her, King Aegis," said Tyronica. "I don't care whether she stays for her people or for her pride, but she must stay there. She should come back only when it is made certain that there is no hope."

Father looked miserable. "I do miss you terribly Sophie. There is nothing I would like better than for you to leave these people and come home to where you belong."

I put my head in my hands and sighed. How could I tell him, tactfully and concisely, that coming home empty-handed wasn't a solution I could bear to consider? How could I tell him to stop caring about my well-being and start worrying about battle strategy instead?

"Father," I said slowly. "Do you remember what happened on the day before I was approved to serve in the squid army?"

He looked at me for a long moment, then turned to Archon and Tyronica. "I must speak with my daughter alone."

When they were gone, he sat down in front of the portal and clasped his hands. "Yes Sophie," he said. "I remember."

"I was practicing dodging and blocking arrows," I recalled. "I had Nix and Kellon set up a long corridor made of dispensers full of arrows and paved with pressure plates. And then I ran through with no armor and a wooden sword."

Tears welled up in Father's eyes and he dabbed them away with his sleeve. "You weren't even breathing when I got to the infirmary."

"When I woke up, you asked me why I was doing this," I said. "You were furious with me for taking that much of a risk. You said completing my training wasn't worth my life or my crown."

Father was now crying too hard to speak. He just nodded.

"And I said, 'My vengeance is worth more than both.'"

"You always do this Sophie," he murmured sadly. "You've always put others before yourself. After Dara was killed in the massacre, all you did was train. I left you to it because I thought it was how you were dealing with your loss… but it wasn't. You wanted to burn their world to the ground and have every last player destroyed because of what had happened. It didn't matter to you what price you paid, only that you got what you wanted. What they deserved."

"I know better than to try and turn you from your path," Father continued. He sighed deeply. "If I order you to return home, you'll tear yourself apart trying to save everyone around you. And that is something I cannot bear to watch again."

Father looked more heartbroken and defeated than I'd ever seen him. Remorse made my insides clench painfully. He had already lost his wife and now he was losing his daughter. I wished there was another way to tell him what I needed in a way that he would understand.

"It's for the best," I said gently. "I promise, Father, I will find a way to save our people. No matter what happens."


	17. Clash

After putting the portal away, I flopped down on my bed, on the verge of crying myself. I wished Father could see the situation the way I did. I wished I hadn't brought up those memories for either of us. Most of all, I wished he just didn't _care_ so much. Despite my best efforts, tears began to run down my face, dissipating into the water.

A knock on my door stopped me from wallowing in my misery. I sat up quickly, wiped my face, and smoothed my rumpled skirt. "Yes?"

The door opened just a crack and Ryan peered in. "Is everything all right, Lady Sophie? I thought I heard you crying."

"I was," I admitted. "But it's all right. I persuaded Father to allow me to stay, and to take no vengeance on any player in the event of my death."

Ryan's shoulders slumped in relief. He had been afraid, I realized. Our truce was built on shaky ground and the recent devastation of Butter City meant they were unusually vulnerable to attack.

"Wonderful news," he said. "But, Lady Sophie, before we meet with the others, I'm afraid we need your help cleaning up the city. We've got all hands on deck but the damage must be fixed by nightfall or we'll be overrun. I'm sorry to ask this of you."

"It's fine," I said quickly. "Work will take my mind off… off this."

He nodded and we walked in silence to the minecart area, and started our ride to the city. The rails were somehow intact, but the dirt around us was pitted with craters and burned clean. I could hear the remnants of the fires crackling in the ruined jungle nearby.

As we neared the gates, I gasped. The once-proud city was a smoldering wreck. The wool that had composed the brilliant patterns on the walls was burned away, and the polished sandstone blocks lay in heaps at the base. A huge hole had been blasted in the side of a house and I could see the broad shallow footprints of creepers where they had simply walked into the city. Gravel roads were cratered with larger holes than I had seen from any explosion, with water pooling at the bottom.

"SOPHIE! GET DOWN!"

I barely had time to register Ryan's shout when a burst of blue light blinded me and a deafening blast went off just a few blocks away. My cart derailed and I was thrown into the air, landing hard in the ruins of a house nearby. I gasped for breath and struggled into a sitting position as Ryan came running over to me. Something sticky was running down my face and neck, and I realized it was ink. I probed my scalp cautiously and found a huge gash on my hairline where my head had made contact with the remains of some stone brick stairs. _Notch damn it_. My hands and feet tingled and went numb as dizziness washed over me. I laid back down, hoping that would help.

A small pink potion appeared in Ryan's hand and he used his teeth to rip the pin from the top, then hurled it at me. I cringed and shielded myself with my hand as the bottle smashed on the polished andesite floor. An overwhelmingly sweet scent of melon poured out of the bottle as the viscous pink liquid was absorbed into my skin. The dizziness and pain began to fade and I was able to stand.

"Charged creeper," he grumbled. He brushed the dirt and powdered rock off me, then handed me a set of enchanted diamond armor, which I gratefully put on. "Patrol must be worn out dealing with those guys. All that lightning and the elevated monster spawn rate was a horrible combination. They're probably responsible for three-fourths of the damage you see here."

"I didn't think they could get more devastating," I said bleakly. "What happens with the lightning?"

Ryan shrugged and steered me towards the main road towards the castle, which looked relatively unhurt. "It's like priming TNT with a flint and steel. The fire somehow amplifies the explosion to nearly double the normal damage. Thankfully they're a lot more visible than the normal kind of creepers; they get this weird glittery blue cloud type thing around them after the strike. Plus they get set on fire after being struck, which means their health is lower than usual. If you're fast enough, you can kill them in one hit before they go off."

We had reached the middle of the city. The damage wasn't nearly as bad as it had originally seemed. The outside had clearly taken the worst of it and here it was almost untouched. A few minor fires still burned on rooftops, and the side of a fountain had broken, but the buildings were intact as well as the roads. Armored players rushed back and forth with buckets of water, blocks of sand and gravel, tools, weapons, and food. One of them hurried over to us and I saw that it was Ssundee. He wore extremely battered diamond armor and carried a plain diamond sword with burn marks running the entire length of the blade. His sunglasses were askew and his beard was singed.

"You guys okay? We all heard the creeper," he said. "Either of you need food?"

Ryan looked at me. "Just for her, I'm fine."

Ssundee rolled his eyes in opposite directions. "Don't be stupid. There's too many still hiding around here to go around hungry." He handed us both a few cold porkchops. "I'll escort you to the castle. There's about ten times the normal patrol out here, they should be fine."

We walked up the stairs that led to the decorative palace gates. I climbed carefully over piles of rubble left behind where the castle spires had collapsed. Fire flickered in a pile of splintered wooden planks, but Ssundee dumped a bucket of water on it before it could spread. At the door, I gulped down another breathing potion, tossed the empty bottle away, and walked inside.

It was the first time I had ever seen the entrance hall, and its splendor dazed me. A gorgeous pattern made of all the different colors of wood covered the floor, accented with blocks of coal and quartz. Gold, iron, diamond, redstone, and lapis blocks brightened the walls with their vivid colors. Soft red carpet led from the doors to a stone brick dais at the far end of the room, where a solid gold throne gleamed under a skylight. It was empty, but a palpable air of power seemed to emanate from the shining surface.

To the left of the throne was a large painting, somewhat crudely drawn and a little frightening. It showed an odd configuration of blocks, a t-shape of soul sand topped with gnarled skulls, blackened with rot. Ssundee steered me towards the painting, then gingerly removed it from the wall. I realized it was concealing a small doorway, which Ssundee quickly walked through and beckoned me to follow. Ryan remained outside, replacing the painting over the entrance.

Ssundee led me down a narrow passage of smooth stone bricks, the surface worn and shiny under my feet. It was pitch dark inside, and the air was cooler here. I relaxed a little for the first time since the creeper attack. At the end of the tunnel, Ssundee pushed a small stone button concealed in the wall. The two blocks in front of us slid forward and to the sides, allowing us to enter the dimly lit room ahead.

Twelve people stood in a wide roundish room. Sky, Husky, and Deadlox stood close to each other, listening intently to Jason's slurred and garbled words. Bonkers, Weedlion, and BlueMonkey, all stood apart and silent. Mitch and Jerome stood in a corner, speaking only to each other, and so softly that no one else could hear them. Mitch looked upset and turned away from Jerome at one point, but Jerome reached out with his massive furry paw and gently cupped Mitch's cheek, coaxing him to look back. For the first time, I wondered if the two were more than simply close friends.

The last three were the loudest and the most noticeable. Jordan, Syndicate, and Jericho stood in the center of the room, almost shouting at each other. The haloes of light that marked them as the emissaries of their gods flared and receded with their words.

"How dare you!" Syndicate roared. "Do you think I would allow you to enter the Temple of the Sun so easily and kill my servant? Do you think I am so blind? You are a fool, old man, and you will die a fool's death!"

"It was an abomination!" Jericho shouted back. "How dare YOU attack our home, and defile it with your creations? You have overstepped your bounds, monster, and I will end you if it is the last thing I do!"

"If you continue like this, it will be!" Jordan snapped. "Look at what you have done! You have left your people broken and defenseless in the wake of your wrath. Have your senses left you completely? Both of you have done far more harm than good!"

"I care not!" Syndicate howled. The remains of his zombie face were contorted in rage, and his empty eye sockets were overflowing with red light. "I will destroy every last one of the players and every part of their world and cast their remains into the Void before I let either of you lay a hand on the Sun Spirit!"

"Firefoxx-" Jericho began, but Syndicate cut him off.

"She was a fool," he snarled. "Arrogant, stupid, and weak, like all of your kind. Do not think to speak of her bravery and skill in battle. She had neither."

The light of the three's auras swelled until it was blinding. Suddenly they burst and receded. I blinked away the dancing spots in my eyes left by the light and almost did a double take. The small frail man, the horned monster, and the white-cloaked woman I had seen in the clouds during the battle were superimposed over the players' forms. Their power charged the air around them, making my ears ring and my vision blurry.

Ssundee pulled me back towards the wall, shielding me with his body. The other players also backed away, moving as far from the angry gods as they could get. My pulse pounded in my ears and I felt as if I had been turned upside down and then righted very quickly. The dim light of the redstone lamps felt too bright, and the colors on the walls and floor stood out with vivid clarity. I wondered detachedly if I had remembered to shut the ocean door to my house before leaving.

Dianite turned to face me, his red eyes blazing. He smiled, showing jagged fangs in his lipless ruin of a mouth.

"Excellent," he purred. "We're all here now. Shall we begin our meeting?"


	18. The Meeting

I could barely see straight. The combined power of the three gods made the air around them warp and twist in odd shapes. Sky and the others weren't faring any better, which gave me a slight twinge of smug satisfaction.

"Calm yourselves," Ianite said sharply. The music of her voice now felt like thorns were being driven into my ears. "You're hurting them."

Dianite glared savagely at her, but seemed to relent. Mianite did as well. The roaring in my ears began to subside and I was able to breathe normally without the pressure in the air. The players relaxed a little.

Sky clung to a wall for support as he hauled himself and Deadlox upright. "If it's too much of a temptation to keep fighting, I want all of you to leave. You've done enough damage as it is, and I refuse to let you use Butter City as a battlefield for another Notch-damned second!" He scowled at all three of the gods so fiercely that Mianite and Ianite lowered their heads in apology and Dianite took a step back.

"We will conduct ourselves properly, King Sky," said Mianite in his rich deep voice. "I apologize for letting our hearts rule our heads. As for that one…" He shot a murderous glare at Dianite, who met his eyes with a hiss of rage.

"I said _stop_," Ianite snapped. Glimmering purple bars snapped up around all three gods, forming intricate cages of energy. Immediately, all traces of their magic vanished from the room. I stared in shock at the gods, two of whom stood sedately in their prisons. The third was not sedate in the least.

"HOW DARE YOU?!" Dianite howled. He gripped the bars as if he was trying to rip them apart, but they held firm under his furious assault. "Release me!"

Sky just looked at him.

"Hardly the display of someone who can be reasoned with," Mianite muttered disdainfully.

Dianite now looked utterly murderous, but he didn't reply. Ianite polished her fingernails on a fold of her gown.

"Thank you," Sky grumbled. The others nodded to Ianite, looking shaken. The only one who seemed injured was Jason, whose helmet was cracked in a few places and oozed purple fluid, but he was still standing. Jerome was actually holding Mitch, though out of concern or romantic interest, I couldn't tell.

"We will do our best to repair the damage done to your city," Dianite said. "I am sorry for any losses you have suffered. It was wrong of us to place you and your people in danger."

"I too will do my part to mend your wounds." Dianite looked sulky but his tone was repentant. "We will confine ourselves to the Aether."

"And I shall look into these… Guardians," said Ianite. "They are not of this world. Something or someone has placed them here for a reason that even I do not know."

"That is more than we expected," Deadlox said politely. He bowed in the general direction of the trio. "Thank you for your contributions."

"Is there anything we can do to speed the repair process?" Sky snapped. "I run a tight ship here, and I'm not dealing with this for longer than a week."

"You can shut up and stay out of our way," Dianite snarled.

"Uncalled for," Mianite hissed at him. "After everything you've done, the least you could do is keep your idiot mouth shut."

"Everything I'VE done?! Look at yourself!" Dianite rattled his cage bars again, to no avail. "There are no innocents here, you have as much blood on your hands as I do-"

"ENOUGH!" Sky bellowed, drowning out both of them. "I want all of you gone, now! Continue battling in the Aether for all I care, I will speak to your emissaries instead."

I had to admire his bravery, or stupidity.

Ianite rolled her eyes and faded away, leaving a pale and shaking Jordan in her place. The magical cage bars evaporated as well. Mianite and Dianite disappeared into thin air, shooting venomous glares at each other to the end.

"I only have one message for your overlords or whatever, and I want you to remember it, dammit." Sky's eyes were covered by his usual patches, but I could practically sense his gaze drilling holes in Jericho, Syndicate, and Jordan. "Keep your battles away from Butter City. If I see one more brick out of place, you are as good as dead. Got it?"

Deadlox had a pained look on his face. He put a hand on Sky's arm, but was shaken off.

"Nothing I can do mate." Syndicate looked vaguely apologetic. "We don't exactly call the shots on them, it's kind of the other way around."

"I don't care, find a way!" Sky snapped. "My priorities lie with the safety of my people, and they have entrusted me with protecting them. I will not break that trust because some otherworldly son-of-a-creeper can't find a better place to throw a temper tantrum."

I had been tense with fear through the entire meeting, but when he phrased it like that, I almost laughed.

"Sky it's more complicated than that," Jordan began, but he stopped when he saw the look on his face. "We… um, we will do what we can."

"Good," Sky grunted. "Everyone dismissed. Deadlox, I need to talk to you so stick around."

Everyone but the emissaries shuffled towards the door. Ssundee nudged me in their direction, but a gentle hand on my shoulder stopped me. I turned around and it was Jericho.

"A moment alone with Sophie, if you will," he said quietly.

Ssundee bowed slightly and backed away. "I'll wait for you over here."

"I apologize for their conduct today," Jericho said. "Tensions are running high as ever since the Sun Spirit was killed. But the balance has been restored. Day and night have returned to the Aether because of Firefoxx's efforts."

I nodded. My mind was still filled with the images from my dream. Jericho gave me a strange look, and I wondered what reasons were behind him showing me the battle.

"Please understand this war is not your doing," Jordan said. "The suffering of your people is a noble cause, and I admire your dedication to remove this threat. The war has been a long time coming. Do not blame yourself for something that you had no control over."

A lump formed in my throat but I pushed it down. "Thank you."

"You are stronger than you think you are, Sophie."

With those parting words, he vanished in a cloud of purple glitter.

Jericho, unexpectedly drew close to me and placed his hands on my shoulders. My skin felt electrified with his power and I looked into his shimmering blue eyes. They reminded me of the ocean.

"Do you recall what Ianite said to you, the first time you spoke with her?"

"Yes," I whispered. "She said I would find a way to save my world, and the world of the players as well."

"She was right," said Jericho quietly. "There is a way for you to succeed. Our world will bow before you and all will know your name. But she did not tell you that you have a choice to make. One that will decide whether the beings of our land submit out of terror or reverence, and speak your name in fear or respect."

A/N: God, it's been a while. Actually took me some time to remember where I wanted this to go, so here, have a cliffhanger.


End file.
